Chapter 12: The Undead and a Tanuki.
Enjoy The Fic
Gaara's scream died down as he panted heavily, he glanced at his shoulder and blanched at the red colour of his blood. Someone has spilled his blood, his precious blood. Gaara looked up at the Uchiha maniacally, his eyes spoke of the fury he was feeling.
Sasuke's eye widened as he took a step back in shock, the amount of killer intent the redhead was radiating was inhuman. Not as deathly as Orochimaru's, but more destructive than him.
"I will kill you, Uchiha!" Gaara yelled in a deep voice, and all hell broke loose.
Suddenly, feathers started to fall in the arena slowly. Civilians, genins and embarrassingly some chunins fell victim to the sleeping genjutsu.
In the arena, Gaara was surrounded by his sand, which formed a sphere around him. Spikes grew around the dome while a single eye made of sand rose out of it to look in the arena.
In the Kage booth:
"What's the meaning of this Kazekage-dono? You've brought an unstable jinchurikki to the exams!" A stormed facing the Kazekage who was sitting silently.
"It doesn't need to be like that, Rasa. I am sure we could talk this out" Hiruzen gave a last attempt to peace.
"Katsu!" The bodyguard behind Kazekage mumbled, and the whole booth exploded into shower of fire and shrapnel.
Seven shadows jumped off from the booth toward the roof, while two jumped down in the ground. Smoke rose out of the booth, and soon the Seven figures were facing each other.
Hiruzen heard a sharp whistle behind him and smiled, his village would be safe.
In the Jonin stands:
Kakashi was on move as soon as he saw explosion encasing the Kage booth, he jumped on the roof of the stand and whistled loudly.
Twenty-eight Anbu black-ops appeared kneeling in front of him, while two stood beside him. "Taichou", they chorused in unison.
"Team B-2, wake up the chunins and genins and instruct them to aid in the evacuation of the civilians." Kakashi ordered sternly, a team of four separated from the group.
"Team C-12 and Team D-1, you are responsible for protection of the foreign Daimyo and other nobles. Sheep, you're the leader" The sheep-masked Anbu nodded, before departing toward the booth of Nobles with Seven Individuals behind him.
"Team C-6, follow the trails of the enemy and destroy any and every way they could call reinforcement" Kakashi ordered sternly. "Mantis, you're the leader. I want you to be in contact with team C-8 and C-9"
Four Anbu hopped off the roof in search of the designated teams, their mission being clear; trap the enemies.
Kakashi glanced around the arena before facing one of Anbu team. "Team A-4, you're assigned the duty to aid the clan heads from behind the line. Take team A-7 with you, Fox-2 will be the leader"
The Fox-masked Anbu gave a curt nod before disappearing with her team.
"Tenzo, you're assigned the duty to guards the walls of Konoha" Kakashi said with a nod.
"It's nice to be under your command again, Taichou" With his part said, Tenzo sped toward the village's outer wall.
"Commander, you should take Team D-2 and proceed to provide security to Hokage-sama" Kakashi said to the Anbu at his side.
"Hai, I will. By the way, it's nice to see you take the responsibility, Hatake" The Anbu Commander said proudly.
"It's just temporary, Commander" Kakashi replied easily.
The Anbu commander nodded before taking off in strides, a Team trailing behind him.
Kakashi looked around himself, his village was burning. Explosions encased entire compounds, Oto and Suna shinobi were coming in droves. It was time for him to show their enemies that Konoha was still strong, they still had the iron-will to defend their home without any failure. It was the day that Konoha's enemies will find new reasons to fear Hatake Kakashi, with that thought he sped toward the frontline without any hesitation.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
As soon as the feathers started falling, Naruto held his fingers into a seal and shouted "Kai". A pulse radiated from his position and encased the whole genin booth, barring any genins from falling before the effect of the village-wide genjutsu.
He glanced to his side to note that the Suna shinobi had already left the stand, probably to help their comrades in the invasion.
Zabuza appeared inside the stand from thin air, a bloodthirsty grin on his face. "You've got your mission, Gaki. Your mission is Suna's sand demon, move now" He barked.
"Hai! Shika, Sakura and Sai behind me" Naruto took the lead jumping from the stands.
The four genins sped toward the sand dome, Sasuke was already trying to cut through the sand with his lighting sheathed katana but to no avail.
"Stop, Sasuke. A simple blade couldn't penetrate through that thick layer of sand" Naruto said.
Soon, the dome was surrounded by atleast three Suna and two Oto nins, who stood their position protectively.
"You'll not move forward, or we'll kill you where you stand" Said the Jonin, whose half face was covered with a white cloth.
"Ma...Ma...Baki-san, threatening our genins is beneath your level. Fight with someone of your own calibre" The proctor said appearing behind the genins.
"Shrnaui Genma, Leaf's Porcupine. You've got some guts facing me so openly" Baki replied with a sneer.
"It's no fun that you know me" Genma chuckled.
"Let's get over with it, then" Baki jumped over the genins to engage his opponent. His genins and the Oto nins would be easily able to strike down the team of tree huggers.
"Sasuke and Sakura on the Oto nins, you're allowed to kill but try to incapacitate" Naruto ordered. "Shika, take on the Suna kunoichi"
"A girl? That's troublesome, blondie" Shika drawled.
"Don't call me that!" Temari and Naruto shouted at the same time.
"As I said, what a drag" Shikamaru muttered taking his stance.
"Can I trust you Sai-san?" Naruto asked the odd genin standing behind him.
"My life is for the protection of the Leaf village; I will fulfil my duty to the village" The boy answered with a strange smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Right, then handle the puppeteer" Naruto ordered. "Go! Use this scrolls to capture them, killing is not allowed. Understood?" He passed each one of them a scroll.
"Hai" They shouted and took off their own opponent, pocketing their respective scroll.
"Now, how to get through that thick sand dome of yours" Naruto pondered. An idea appeared in his mind instantly, with a smirk he took out one of his special Kunai.
"Let's try something wild" The blond said pulling back his arm to throw the seal-wrapped kunai.
He threw it toward the dome before forming a serious of hand seal, he applied a little pressure on his chest and expelled a ball of wind. "Fuuton: Wind Bullet". The wind jutsu covered the kunai completely, increasing its speed by several folds and forming a wind buffer around it.
Unlike Sasuke's katana, Naruto's kunai passed through the sand effortlessly. It was probably due to the wind chakra, Naruto smirked in victory before vanishing from his spot, leaving behind a lone kunai.
Meanwhile, Shikamaru was already attacking the blonde kunoichi. With his sword in hand, he was directing several shadow slashes toward his opponent. Temari was panting from constantly moving around to avoid her opponents attack.
The girl jumped again to avoid one of the annoying shadow slashes heading her way, she twisted in mid-air and launched a number of shurikens toward Shikamaru. But as always, the shurikens halted in mid-air as their shadows were caught in mid-flight.
"Crafty bastard" She groused as she unhooked the fan from her back, suddenly a loud boom echoed around them and a yellow blur flew past them. She looked the other side to see her brother, half of his body coated in sand. One of his arms had taken the shape of sand claw, and a lone tail made up of sand swished behind him.
"Gaara" She whispered in horror. It was the first stage of his transformation, his size would grow minute by minute until the sand fully covers him.
"You are one tough bastard, I'll have to accept that" Naruto chuckled standing up, he wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his sleeve.
He hurriedly unsealed his Bo-staff and rushed toward the sand-jinchurikki, a tendril of sand stirred toward him but he jumped over that.
"That blond would die attempting this type of stunts someday, troublesome" Her opponent said tiredly, and her focus returned to the task at hand.
On the other hand, Naruto was breathing heavily as he dodged several tendrils of sand trying to wound him severely. He quickly avoided another of those dangerous sand tendrils before returning with a swift kick to Gaara's chest with the help of his staff.
However, his kick didn't have any effect on the redhead, his sand armour was too strong to be countered by simple kicks. Another vine of sand moved toward him but he back flipped to avoid it, without a second thought he threw one of his kunai behind Gaara and substituted himself with it.
"Tch! Sand...sand...sand! it's everywhere" Naruto mumbled to himself, while avoiding one of the sand waves.
Another substitution and he was in front of Gaara, with three hand-signs that he made in haste ejected a purple cloud of poison at his opponent's face. "Take that!"
The poison wasn't a potent one and it wouldn't matter even if it was, poisons were incapable of harming a jinchurikki except for a few minor effects.
Gaara's eye watered as his sand was only useful for physical attack, though he never had any problems with poison. They simply didn't affect him.
Naruto quickly moulded his finger into a series of hand seals, "Suiton: Water pellets". Several volleyball-sized water balls were fired on the sand wall, drenching it and making the sand heavier.
"I was just waiting for you to that." Naruto chuckled, but it soon turned into a frown when his opponent didn't reply.
"Hey, what's the matter? Cat's got your tongue or something 'ttebayo?" He taunted his opponent.
"You'll quench the thirst of mother, Uzumaki. You'll prove my existence!" Gaara shouted as he sent another wave of sand toward Naruto. So his water pellet didn't have any effect on his opponent's sand, well that sucked.
Naruto glanced up at the boy before sighing loudly, he was really upset at seeing the condition of a fellow jinchurikki. Did every other village treat their container like this? If so then the shodai hokage was at fault to provide them with the beasts.
Meanwhile, his two teammates were busy handling the Oto nins. They weren't anything special, the only thing keeping them standing was their experience. Atleast they had more experience than newly graduated genins they're facing, Sakura blocked her opponent's kick with her forearm, but couldn't avoid the elbow to her gut.
She jumped back to make distance between herself and her opponent, her opponent didn't disappoint and followed her quickly
She took the advantage of her opponent's eagerness to follow and adjusted her footing before speeding toward him, pumping a large amount of chakra in her fist. She weaved through the wobbly guard of her opponent and released the chakra-enhanced punch at his abdomen.
The Oto shinobi looked up toward her in shock, before a pained expression came on his face as he flew back, impacting the arena wall in process. He was on the ground unconscious, the next moment.
Sasuke was already wiping the blood of his opponent from his katana, his opponent was more amateurish than Sakura's. He was merely a chunin, who had earned that rank in the last exam even after being disqualified in the second round. It was clear to Sasuke, that the village hidden in sound focused on quantity rather than quality.
"You're done? Let's meet up with Naruto" Sakura said wiping the sweat from her brow.
Sasuke nodded sheathing his Katana, but before he could say anything a yellow blur flew past him and crashed into the arena wall.
"Sand...sand, it's always with the sand." Naruto slurred as he stood up with shaky legs.
Sakura and Sasuke sweat-dropped at their teammate's antics, they looked the other way to see a raccoon like animal entirely made up of sand except its head, which was still of Gaara.
"I only shot two fireballs at you, bastard" Naruto yelled, supporting his weight with his staff.
Sakura quickly unbuckled her heavy-sword bringing it in front of her body, while Sasuke drew his Katana.
"Don't!" This time Naruto's voice was stern. "He's my mission, you two should move into the village and help the chunins clear the area, if you know what I mean".
Both of his teammate looked hesitant but nodded positively nonetheless. "Are you sure you can fend him off in your current condition?" asked Sasuke.
"Don't embarrass me, teme. I can perfectly handle him" Naruto smirked, taking the basic stance of Saru-style bojutsu.
"Alright, we'll leave him to you then". With that being said, Sakura and Sasuke hurried toward the gates of the arena.
But as they reached the gates, a presence made itself known by hopping down from the stands above the gates. Rock Lee stood in front of the two genins, his body wrapped in bandages at several parts, mainly around his shoulder and abdomen.
"Yosh! My fellow comrade, I'm here to assist you in the fight against the un-youthful enemies who have invaded our motherland" Lee declared in loud voice.
"I don't think you should do that, Lee. Not with the injuries that you've sustained while fighting Hinata" Sakura replied with a grimace.
"Don't fear for me, Sakura-chan. I am fine, they're just small cuts. I will protect you from back, while you attack the enemies" Lee replied back easily.
"I still don't..." Sakura's word were cut off when a body flew pass them in blur. They glanced in the direction of the body to see an Oto Jonin, as signalled by his vest, implanted into the wall, they looked the other side to see pure mayhem. Zabuza and Haku were clearing the arena like hurricanes, Oto and Suna shinobis were falling like flies wherever they went.
Zabuza's mask and Kubikiribōchō were coloured red with blood, most probably his enemies', while Haku had several ice-senbons in her hand. Zabuza's eyes were spinning like pinballs as he dispatched one enemy after another, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Atleast Haku was only incapacitating her victims, or freezing them.
Another explosion went off in the stands and the three genins' eyes looked up toward the sound instinctively, what they saw made their blood run cold.
Standing on the roof of civilian-side of the stands was Hatake Kakashi, he held a small tanto in his left hand in reverse grip, which was encased into lighting chakra. While his right hand held his katana, blood dripping from its blade. His grey hairs had hints of red in them, and one could see atleast 50 shinobis laying around him, dead.
It was this moment that Sasuke understood who was truly a monster in human form. Suddenly, Kakashi brought down his tanto which was crackling white due to lightning chakra, several bolts of lightning crackled around him taking the shape of a hound, the next moment he had electrocuted 30 more enemies.
"We should move out of here, come one, Lee" Sasuke said and walked out of the stadium, fire of determination dancing in his eyes.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Hinata deflected another shuriken with her daggers, she scanned behind herself to check on her sister who was fine except being a bit afraid. That was to be expected.
Fighting beside her was Hizashi, he had been given the responsibility to protect the women and elders of the clan. While Hiashi and several branch members were fighting the enemies, and preventing them from reaching the vulnerable members of their clan.
Hinata threw one of dagger that embedded in the skull of an Oto genin, evident by the lack of any vest on his person. With a flick of her wrist the bloodied weapon was back into her hand, a feat possible due to the summoning seal etched on her wrist, a gift from Naruto.
A battle cry came from her left and she instinctively looked toward it, a swarm of Suna and Oto ninjas were advancing toward her clan. One blink was all it took. One blink of her eyes and half of those were incapacitated on the ground, the perpetrator? One Asuma Sarutobi. Standing off against at least fifteen enemies, the Hokage's son had his custom trench knives in ready stance. They were extended with Wind chakra to aid him more efficiently, another blink and he was engaging the offenders. Dispatching several enemies in mere seconds.
At a bit distance from the Hyuga were the Akimichi and Yamanaka clan, their clan heads had opted to handle the situation in the village rather than staying in the stadium. A wise decision. Their clans didn't need their help, both the clans had a number of powerful shinobis in their midst.
Suddenly, an ominous killer intent was felt around the whole stadium. Fighting stopped in several parts as eyes turned toward its source, the lone redhead jinchurikki was leaking such potent killing intent that it was putting jonins to shame.
"I'll kill you, Uzumaki. You'll prove my existence with your blood" The boy shrieked inhumanly, pouncing on the blond in front of him.
Some pitied the blond, he would die in vain while protecting his worthless village at the hands of that monster. They were mainly the shinobi from Oto and Suna.
However, others felt that it was match made from heaven, the Demon vs the Monster. Unsurprisingly that was the thought process of more than a few shinobis from his own village, mainly chunins and newly promoted jonins.
Naruto gazed at his opponent emotionlessly, the redhead had his whole body covered into sand except his head and looked rather bizarre due to that. It seemed like a human head on the body of a raccoon made up of sand, he can also see trail of black along the nails and other parts of the tanuki body, they look eerily similar to sealing matrix.
"Fuuton: Drilling air bullets" Roared Gaara as his belly inflated with excess wind chakra, he shot five large bullets of air toward the Kyubi jinchurikki.
Naruto knew without resorting to one of his more chakra taxing techniques he couldn't halt the wind bullets, and he didn't want any leaf-nin getting into crossfire. With his mind fixed, he formed a single hand-sign and a clone was beside him copying his hand-signs but a much faster rate.
"Doton: Earth-style wall" The clone whispered placing his palms on the ground, a wall raised out of the soil effortlessly and the clone dispelled due to the loss of its chakra.
"Doton: Double Earth-style wall" Naruto said a bit loudly, with the help of his clone he had formed two consecutive earth walls.
The bullet impacted the first wall and demolished it but the second wall stopped its momentum with only a few cracks on its surface.
However, he didn't predict that the Ichibi-jinchurikki will use the wind bullets to mask his own movement. He was infront of Naruto soon as he dodged the bullets, a claw swiped clipped him on shoulder and his right arm.
Swearing loudly, he jumped back to let Kyubi's chakra heal the damage, but Gaara wasn't in mood to allow that.
He wasn't a greenhorn though, he held his staff behind him with one hand and shot a fireball at his opponent's face point blank. Gaara's sand came to his protection but a minor chance was all he needed, the ichibi jinchurikki fell down as he felt his legs being swept from under him. He looked up with furious eyes to meet three sets of cerulean eyes, they only said one word "Katsu!".
Gaara soared back with his sand trailing behind him, though some of it moved beneath him to soften his landing. Although, he had burn marks all over his arms and face as his sand wasn't fast enough to protect him from that, his last line of defence had failed him for the second time.
He grunted as he landed on his sand, atleast it has cushioned him. Unintentionally, his sand started swirling around him like a sandstorm. The sand started forming a cocoon around him as he glanced up at his opponent with a smirk.
Naruto knew that look, he quickly sealed up his staff, something big was coming and he had to get ready for no matter what the redhead brought.
Potent chakra leaked out of the cocoon as it grew in size instead of forming into a dome like previously, soon the cocoon was at the magnitude of a small mountain.
Naruto knew at that moment that he was truly screwed.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
The seven figures on the roof of Kage booth eyed each other, the Raikage was about to ask what was happening when suddenly the Kazekage's guards jumped in air dividing into four people. While a figure rose out of the shadow of the Suna's kage, white scaled skin covered by a purple battle kimono and black hairs straightened down to his shoulder.
"Ku...Ku...Ku, it's been long since I last saw you, sensei" Chuckled the figure revealing himself as Orochimaru.
The four figures that had divided from the two guards took position around the roof, one in each corner.
"Ninpo: Four flames formation" Yelled the four shinobis in unison, barrier walls materialised out of thin air blocking anyone from interference.
"Orochimaru, the traitorous sannin" Raikage recognised the man easily.
"Raikage-dono, you're free to stand aside and watch the events unfold" Orochimaru said silkily, it would be bothersome to deal with the famed Raikage together with his sensei.
"Or you could leave the barrier, my subordinates will allow you a window to walk away. You could pick one of the Hyugas on your way out to research on the famed Byakugan" Orochimaru pressed with a smirk.
A observed Sarutobi who was eyeing him neutrally, he could take the deal offered by Orochimaru. But making enemies out of an entire village for just one dojustu, that was the same kind of stupidity which saw his father outed from the office.
"Do you still think there's a chance for an alliance between Kumo and Konoha, Sarutobi?" Asked A carefully.
A grin found its place on Hiruzen's lips. "I do, A. It will be fruitful for both of our villages, I can promise you that"
"Then it's decided, I will side with Konoha. How you say it, offering olive branch of peace" A replied with a smirk.
"Bee, tell our shinobi to aid Konoha as effectively as they can without endangering their own life" He bellowed at the top of his lung, Killer bee who was standing just outside the barrier nodded and sent the same order to all the Kumo's shinobi present in Konoha.
"Tch! You're all fools if you think you'll come out alive, you've forfeited your life by allying with Konoha. You dotards!" Orochimaru sneered.
Although at inside he knew that the presence of two kage level shinobi will hinder his plan explicitly, he was here to see Sarutobi-sensei die at the hands of his predecessors not to engage him.
"Is that so, my dear student? Though as I see it, it's four against two. A bit overwhelmed, aren't you?" Hiruzen taunted the snake sannin.
"Is that so? Then I must even the grounds, ne sensei?" That instantly put Hiruzen on guard.
"Summoning: Edo Tensei" Orochimaru said out loudly
Hiruzen's eye widened, he didn't know his wayward student has gotten his hands on Nindaime's kinjutsu. Five coffins rose out of the ground, only one of them was engulfed in fire before the rest three were secured behind a Mud wall.
"You bastard! Do you know how hard it was to get a hand on their DNA?" Orochimaru gritted his teeth atop the mud wall.
"I know enough to understand that you've become an ungrateful monster, Orochimaru." Hiruzen replied easily. "You should've let the dead rest in their graves" He added bitterly.
"Ku...Ku...Ku...Where would be the fun in that, sensei?" Orochimaru quickly formed three hand seals, as the cover of the coffins blew away.
"Let me introduce you to the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju—" First coffin dissolved to reveal a dull figurine of Hashirama that was dressed into his famous battle armour.
"—his brother and the Nindaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju—" A second figurine was revealed, that of Tobirama, it was also dressed in the iconic blue armour of the second Senju brother.
"—lastly, Shodaime's wife and the Uzumaki princess, Mito Uzumaki" The third figurine was that of Mito, red hairs cascading behind her. It wore a white battle kimono with red lacing and a large sealing scroll was strapped to its back, while she wore two paper earrings reading 'Kanji' in each ear.
Hiruzen noticed with a start that they weren't statues, but beings made up of bones, muscles and organs. He turned his furious gaze toward his former student, any warmth left in his heart for his once prized student was gone now.
"You're playing a very dangerous game, Orochimaru." He said tersely.
"The game has just started, Sarutobi-sensei. Hope you'll like it" With that Orochimaru appeared behind the three statue, and pushed three kunai into their hand as if they were mere shadows.
The three statues came to life, though their eyes got some colour but they still were under the control of Orochimaru.
"I was wrong, Orochi-teme. You're far beyond redemption, I think it's time to put you down like the rabid dog that you are" A voice said, the guard on Hiruzen's left discarded his robes to reveal himself as Jiraiya.
"I totally agree with you, Jiraiya. It's high time that we clean the tint on Konoha's image by killing him" The guard on the other side slid down his robes to reveal Danzo.
Suddenly, his shadow grew bigger than him and a lone figure rose out of it, Shishui Uchiha. "I am always ready to serve the village as best as I can" he added.
Orochimaru looked at the new arrivals with disdain, it seems killing Sarutobi-sensei won't be as easy as he had thought.
"Yes, the game has just started, my former student" Hiruzen said with a smile.
"Attack!" snarled Orochimaru.
"I'll take on Orochimaru—" Hiruzen begun, but he was interrupted by Danzo.
"No, Uchiha Shishui will take care of him. You should focus on Shodaime hokage, only you're capable enough to hold him down even if he's at his weakest." Danzo said firmly.
"That's risky, Orochimaru is a very capable enemy" Hiruzen retorted quickly.
"And do you think we don't know that? We do, and that's why Shishui will be more than happy to end his life." Danzo responded.
"Ok then, Jiraiya, you'll take on Mito-sama, you're currently our best fūinjutsu specialist." Hiruzen said without waiting for a response.
He turned toward his old teammate, "Danzo, you must hold down sensei."
He lastly faced A with a hopeful expression. "Raikage dono, I will appreciate it if you could take up the job to hold down Rasa"
"I will, you should focus on your fight with the Shodaime hokage. If even one of the tales I've heard about him is true, then you're going to have your hands full" A replied cracking his knuckles.
"Lariat" the mountain of a man yelled as he pounced on his opponent in a blink of their eyes, his arms collided with the chest of Rasa but it revealed itself as a golden-sand statue.
Hiruzen has only turned toward his opponent when a punch rocketed him back, he adjusted his position and skid to landing before firing several bullets of fire toward Hashirama. Unsurprisingly, the man simply avoided them all and sped toward the third hokage. Hiruzen blocked a roundhouse kick with his forearm wincing in the process, and kicked back his opponent into gut. He followed up with another kick, as Hashirama staggered back due to its force.
"You're taijutsu is better than I remember, Saru. Your power has also increased by several folds." Hashirama complimented.
"You can talk? I never thought sensei had developed the jutsu that much" Hiruzen stated wide-eyed.
"Of course I can, Hiruzen. And don't sell your unruly student short, it's him who has developed this accursed jutsu to this level. It's a pity that he has lost his will of fire" Hashirama replied as his body moved on its own.
Hiruzen ducked under a haymaker, and rolled to his side to avoid an axe kick.
"Ninpo: Tiles shuriken technique" Hiruzen pronounced as several tiles rose up from the roof and hit Hashirama directly on his face, disorienting him.
Hiruzen took advantage of his diversion and succeeded in delivering a uppercut to his abdomen. The energy behind his punch propelled back the first hokage to a certain distance, Hiruzen didn't stop there and dashed forward to continue their fight.
"You're Tsuna's teammate, aren't you? I remember you, Jiraiya, always on to something disastrous." Mito said with a smile, as her body moved on its own.
Jiraiya blocked a punch with his crossed forearms, the woman followed with two more punches that were blocked successfully.
"How's Tsuna by the way? Is she still mourning the loss of Dan?" Mito asked worriedly.
"She—uh—is fine now, I brought her back to the village with the help of Kushina's son" Jiraiya replied between his grunts, the woman was really powerful. As powerful as Kushina in sheer physical strength, and that woman could uproot a whole tree without any effort when enraged.
"Uzumaki Style: Pressure seal level 4" Mito said working through a series of hand sign. A seal appeared beneath her feet, spreading toward the Toad-sennin.
"Fuck!" Jiraiya muttered and jumped back, eyeing the seal-covered area warily as it collapsed down a few inches due to the increased gravitational pressure.
"Yes, you need to avoid my touch, Jiraiya. I can transfer seals with mere touch, a deadly skilled I'd picked from my late brother" Mito said with a sincere smile.
Her fingers intertwined together to form hand seals for "Fuuton: Wind slash", a ninjutsu that was repeatedly used by Kushina during her shinobi days.
Jiraiya ducked beneath the wind slash aimed at his head, and moved forward with a speed his late student would've been proud of.
"Just like Minato all over again" He murmured to himself going through a series of hand seals.
"Summoning: Toad's tongue lock" Jiraiya bellowed and slammed down his hand on the roof. Several seal patterns appeared around the Toad sage and each of the matrix had a fleshy appendage peeking out of it.
They moved forward at a decent speed to latch onto the limbs of their victim, but before they could succeed, Mito had already unsealed a katana from somewhere, she cut down the offending appendage attempting to capture her.
"Did I tell you that I taught kenjutsu to Kushina?" Mito asked with a smirk.
Jiraiya groaned as the women drew back her katana to attack him, it was going to be long day.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Naruto gulped as he saw the towering figure of a raccoon-like creature made up entirely of stand, it had a wide maw and black inky markings all over its body.
Its yellow-patterned eyes looked without any emotion, while its mouth was closed tightly.
"I'll kill you Uzumaki and bury your cold body in my sand, Ku...Ku...Ku..." The figure spoke in the voice of its jinchurikki, showing it was still Gaara controlling the Sand giant.
Fighting across the whole stadium stopped, the Suna shinobis were eyeing the sand spirit fearfully. They knew what would happen to Konoha now, their own village has suffered under the demon for years, it was now time for Konoha to see what kind of monster Gaara was.
The Konoha shinobis looked at the still form of Ichibi with wide eyes, they already knew what damage a tailed beast could cause to their village. The memories of that fateful night of years ago came back with a kick, the fox hadn't vanished until its hunger had been satiated by the blood of Yondaime Hokage and 'The Red Death'. Two of the most feared individuals that Konoha had ever nurtured, they had been compared to the Sannin during their years as shinobi.
"That's the sand spirit, Suna's bijuu, Ichibi" Hizashi said with a quivering voice.
Hinata looked in the direction of the large figure, but her eyes quickly diverted to the small figure standing at its' feet. That blond hair and attire, it was definitely Naruto. She attempted to jump down from the stands but a firm hand held her shoulder, she glanced behind her shoulder and looked directly into the eyes of Hiashi Hyuga.
"You wouldn't go there" He declared in a firm a tone.
Hinata shook her head, "He's my friend, I've to go and help him"
"It's out of your league, Hinata. Don't be a fool, you will only be a hindrance" Hizashi's voice reached her ears.
Meanwhile in the arena, Naruto eyed the Ichibi coldly. "Heh! As if I would allow you to do that"
The onlooker watched with morbid curiosity as the blond formed several hand-signs in quick succession. "Summoning Jutsu", the blonde yelled pushing out as a large amount of chakra in the technique.
He slammed his hands on the ground and the area around him was engulfed into white smoke suddenly. The shinobis around him backed away as quickly as they can, they didn't have any desire to get between the two powerhouses.
Hiashi, Hizashi and other shinobis of the Konoha looked in awe as a single figure moved forward from the smoke, drawing it with itself. The smoke dissipated a little to show the enormous shape of an animal, a toad to be more precise. One with magenta-coloured skin, giant horn-like protrusions above its eyes and grey marks touching his eyes that spread out to its limbs.
The toad had a giant sasumata in one hand, and a shield made of straws was strapped to its back. It was dressed in a black kimono with a white sash tied around its waist, and mesh armour underneath that.
"Uzumaki-san, you know I'm a bit clumsy—but I'll try to do my best", Gamaken croaked loudly.
"I've told you to call me just Naruto, and don't sell yourself short, Gamaken. You're an awesome partner to have in battle", Naruto replied with a fond smile.
"As you wish, Naruto-san.", Gamaken said with a smile.
Naruto nodded not correcting hum, he didn't have time for that. His village was in danger, and so were his family and friends, it was time to act.
Hiashi's eyes widened as he measured the size of the toad, if he wasn't mistaken this was one of the famed battle toads that Jiraiya of the sannin frequently brought to his battles. "That boy", he chuckled.
"He's full of surprise, isn't he? Who would've thought that we'd see a similar scene after a decade" Hizashi added with an awed look.
Hinata looked at the two giant figures measuring each other depth with eyes, and smiled proudly at Naruto.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
From just outside the stadium, Sasuke looked up in alarm gripping his twin katana wet from the blood of his victims, two towering figures could be seen behind the tall wall of the arena. His eyes caught a blond dot on the head of the toad, Naruto, the idiot was full of surprises.
Sakura was in a similar state, but her eyes were fixed on the large form of Ichibi. That was why Naruto had told them to back away, this was no normal genin and while Sakura had already noticed that she hadn't thought that the redhead was this dangerous.
Asuma landed beside them with Ibiki in tow as the two jonins looked at the two giants with blank face, they knew who was the blond's teacher but summoning such enormous being was no joke.
Ibiki tched, "This is getting out of hands."
"You shouldn't be distracted so easily, Sarutobi Asuma. You've made quite the name, being the son of Third Hokage, I didn't expect less" Said a voice from behind them, Asuma turned around to look at the speaker.
"Guré Tokage, Suna's sand lizard. You've some nerves facing me after the stunt you pulled against me in Taki", Asuma snarled.
"My...My, aren't you snappy today? I'll smack that attitude out of you, Sarutobi", Guré chuckled and pounced on his opponent, dozens of Oto shinobi following his lead.
"Sakura, take my back!", Sasuke barked the orders. "Lee, beside me. I would suggest you to use a more lethal weapon."
Lee grinned and suddenly his nun chucks were spiky. Sasuke nodded and attacked the Oto shinobi with Sakura and Lee in his stead.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Kakashi deflected another shuriken with his katana, lighting crackled around his tanto turning it white. He glanced around himself to count four shinobis ready to attack him, his instinct screamed at him to attack.
He brought forward the katana in his left hand, inflicting cuts on the stomach of the enemies on his left. With a quick jump he slashed his tanto in air, sending a wave of electricity to run rampant in the body of his enemies on the opposite side. They're paralyzed, he put his left foot infront and flicked the tanto in its sheath, without a second of pause he plunged the Katana direct through the abdomen of his fifth enemy.
"I told you this won't end in your favour" he murmured with a tight smile.
He was already forming hand seals and drawing chakra from his tenketsu points when a group of Suna shinobis reached his location.
"Hatake Kakashi, I've been waiting—", the leader of the Suna group started to say.
"Katon: Inferno technique" Kakashi expelled a wall of fire, white as snow, his opponents were burnt to crisps in mere seconds.
Kakashi didn't even feel any effect on his reserve, his training in the hidden mansion has been successful. Training for a month while having his Mangekyou constantly draining his chakra had increased his reserve by several folds, he can proudly say that he can match Jiraiya's stamina unless the latter taps into Senjutsu.
He could use the Sharingan for half the day and wouldn't drop down from chakra exhaustion, unlike before when even an hour of the Sharingan would've exhausted 90 percent of his reserves.
Kakashi looked on impassively at his burned opponents, the village was in danger and he wasn't so sure he could show mercy to the attackers. Suddenly, he felt a massive chakra spike from the direction of arena. He swirled around only to see a large raccoon-like creature towering over the whole stadium, its voice echoed around the whole village.
The Suna jinchurikki was unleashed, he knew what destruction an unrestrained Bijuu could cause. In the next moment, another chakra spike was felt and half of the stadium was engulfed into smoke. A familiar smoke of summoning.
Towering over the whole stadium was another figure, a Toad, specifically one of battle toads of Mt. Myoboku. Stood on its head was his blonde student, Naruto was looking at his opponent impassively.
Kakashi smirked at the sight of his younger brother atop the giant summon, it was like seeing his sensei all over again. Minato-sensei would've been proud of his son, achieving unbelievable milestones at such young age. He didn't need to worry about his student or the tanuki, Naruto was capable enough to handle it on his own.
His musing was cut short by the cheers of a group of 10 or so shinobis from Otogakure, with a swift movement his left eye was uncovered for the world to see. Three black tomoes swirled into the blood-red eyes, he glanced behind him for the last time before jumping down the roof to confront the group.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Sasuke grunted as he hid behind a broken wall, his opponent fired another of those sound waves. Asuma-sensei was busy handling the Suna's jonin, and they were left to handle the Oto nins.
The proctor from the first exam, Morino Ibiki had sped off toward the village gates before the group of Suna and Oto shinobi had caught up to them.
Sakura was hidden behind a still intact wall to his left with Lee, he peaked from his hidden place to observe the location of his opponent but had to duck again to avoid the sound wave sent his way.
He glanced to his friend who was crouched on one leg, her cleaver-sword was laid in front and she had a bottle of violet liquid in her hand.
"What's this, Sakura-chan?" Lee asked the question that was on lips.
"It's a potent poison, Haku was generous enough to provide me with a few bottles.", what Haku didn't tell her was that it was a special concoction made only in Kiri.
"A simple cut and a drop, that would be enough to kill even a fully matured bull" Sakura added with a wink.
Sasuke looked at her sword and back at her a bit alarmed, he didn't want to know how much time the poison would take to kill a human. not at all.
"That'll do" Sakura remarked spreading the liquid all over her sword.
"Sakura, we'll use formation A. You will be in front at a certain distance, Lee and I will handle any enemies from side back and leftover from you" Sasuke ordered with a resolve.
"And please keep that sword away from me" Sasuke stated looking forward, not meeting the eyes of his teammate.
"Really, Sasuke-kun? You're afraid of a poisonous sword?" Sakura teased.
"I just don't want to die prematurely because you mistakenly cut me with that sword" Sasuke said stoically, but Sakura's laughs ringed into his ears.
"Whatever, I'll give us an opening be ready for a full-powered attack", With that said Sasuke activated his Sharingan, which he had deactivated before to save chakra.
He jumped over the broken wall, one of his katana held in his right arm. His Sharingan caught the swirling of chakra in his enemy's arm, probably to fire another one of those sound waves.
He instinctively rolled to his right as a near-invisible wave of sound was fired at him, pumping his leg muscles with chakra he jumped forward. His katana was already unsheathed as the enemy looked up toward him, he made the mistake to look directly into the Sharingan.
The sound shinobi froze, and Sasuke used that moment to deliver a decapitating blow from his katana. Another one of the sound shinobi yelled as he jumped forward to attack Sasuke, but the ebony-haired boy ducked reflexively as Sakura's cleaver-sword connected with the chest of his enemy.
"Hey, are you trying to behead me? That sword is poisonous, one cut and I'll be dead" Sasuke glared at his pinkette teammate.
"Sorry, Sasuke-kun" Sakura laughed as Rock Lee jumped over to attack the remaining member of the group.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Naruto looked at his opponent impassively, appearance of a tailed-beast in a village could be quite terrifying. Especially, after what Kyubi had done years ago, he had to defeat the Suna's jinchurikki as quickly as he can.
"You're proving to be quite the opponent, Uzumaki. You're worthy to be the next person who will prove my existence." Gaara stated from his place atop the head of Tanuki.
"There's only a slight problem, I can't control mother's body as effectively as she can herself. Thus, I'll have to rely on her to finish my work." Gaara said while laughing maniacally.
"Naruto-san, this means he'll doze off. As the Ichibi can get the control of its host while it's sleeping if the seal is weak." Gamaken clarified worriedly.
"Playing Possum Jutsu", Gaara's body slumped down as his eye closed momentarily.
The Ichibi opened its eyes, yellow pupils with a hint of madness in them, "Yahoo! I am free, at last I am free!".
"This is that stupid fox's territory, I'll demolish it and show him that having more tails doesn't make him a god. Let's have the party started, Baby" It laughed fanatically as he looked around himself, eventually his eyes caught to the form of the giant toad in front of him.
"A toad? That's how you are trying to control me, I'll rip it into pieces and bathe in its blood" Shukaku continued his rant.
"Fuuton: Air bullet" It yelled and fired a large bullet of wind toward the Toad.
"Gamaken!" Naruto ordered, and his summon deflected the bullet with its Sasumata. The wind bullet changed its direction and collided with one side of the wall surrounding the stadium, the force and pressure of the wind was so high that a whole part of the wall turned into rubbles.
"That's more than what I expected, we'll have to be careful of those 'Air bullets', Gamaken", Naruto remarked, the toad nodded positively.
"Fuuton: Air bullets" Two more wind bullets were sent their direction, but this time Gamaken was ready for them.
"Suiton: Water bullets" He fired back with full force, both the techniques collided in mid-air. As a result, Rain started to pour down in the stadium, thus the arena was flooded now.
"This is the fights of titans, where average shinobi like us don't have any place" Ebisu said from his position in stands.
"Rightfully said, Ebisu. We'll be only mere hindrances if we try to intervene in their fight, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that these are two green genins fighting each other" Raido said deflecting a kunai with his tanto.
"Sand Coffin" The Ichibi motioned the sand to move toward its opponent.
"Gamaken! Jump!" the Toad jumped up in the air without any hesitation.
A plan formed in Naruto's head as he looked down at the Ichibi, he quickly formed two hand seal, "Gamaken, can you fire a stream of water at Ichibi when I signal you?".
Gamaken nodded in positive. "Let's do it then", Naruto said, and completed his hand seals.
He spat a large amount of mud that was then directed toward Shukaku with the help of water stream. A rock wall erupted around the one-tailed beast, who looked around himself in rage.
"You dare to think that a simple wall made of rock could hold me down" The Tanuki swiped his tail, the walls never stood a chance.
Gamaken landed heavily, crushing trees and a few enemy shinobis under him. He was already in motion when Tanuki looked up after demolishing the walls, dragging his arm back he swung the sasumata at his enemy's head.
The sand demon blocked the swing with his forearm, and expelled a good amount of sand at his opponent. Gamaken jumped back to avoid anything the sand demon was about to try.
And true to his prediction, a sandstorm materialized around Naruto and his toad summon, dust and debris flew around him in a clockwise direction.
Gamaken brought forward his shield as wind picked up speed around them, suddenly the sandstorm blasted forward.
"Fuuton: Wind Wall" Naruto said, wind shaped around him as a transparent shield, blocking out the sand and debris.
"It's getting dangerous by every minute, Gamaken. We need to finish this quickly, if he gets the upper hand the village will be destroyed" Naruto yelled above the sound of storm.
"I've a plan, can you move out of this storm?" Asked Naruto quickly.
Gamaken nodded started spinning his shield in anti-clockwise direction, "Mirror Technique: Wind attack reversal".
It was a jutsu Gamaken seldom used, it was a fairly common technique that could only reverse wind techniques or its alternative, such as sand or snow winds.
The sand started falling suddenly as the shield absorbed wind chakra used to power the sandstorm. This gap was all Naruto needed, he quickly formed a single hand sign. Two shadow clones popped into existence at each of his side, with a firm nod all three of them started forming the same set of hand signs.
With their signs completed both of them shouted simultaneously. "Katon: Fire Dragon jutsu".
Fire chakra surrounded Naruto as two identical dragon made up of fire were formed by his clone, the shinobi that had restarted fighting around him stopped and looked at his technique in fear and awe.
"Gamaken, Oil!" He shouted as he himself formed the last hand sign.
"Katon: fire Hydra jutsu" He yelled and the last dragon joined the fray, Gamaken expelled a large amount of oil in the direction of his jutsu. As a result, it became humongous, the heat from the jutsu felt raw on his skin.
The shinobi nearest to him scattered, and ran over each other to save themselves from the lethal jutsu.
In the arena, Zabuza eyed the three-headed fire dragon with wide eyes, he had seen several high-ranked jutsu and this was definitely an B-ranked, and with the combustible toad oil it was simply an A-ranked jutsu. He was never going to argue with Kakashi about the ability of his blond student, even if Haku and Sakura were formidable in their own right, they couldn't compete with the blond menace.
Meanwhile, the clan heads with Hizashi and Hiashi gawked at the level of techniques the blond was using from the stands. They had always thought that being the son of Fourth and Uzumaki Kushina he would be surely strong, but to handle such powerful techniques at such tender age. It wasn't simply surprising but terrifying, Jinchurikkis all around the elemental nation were at a level of their own and so was Uzumaki Naruto.
With Naruto, he was having a little problem controlling the technique, though he had seen Jiraiya use a similar technique but a much smaller level. His was only this big due to the inflammable oil that the toads of Mt. Myuboku used, and if he was to be honest then this was his only third high level jutsu, apart from Summoning and an another.
He directed the fire chakra to cover the form of Ichibi, the creature was made up of sand so it should atleast change a part of its body into glass. The fire Hydra with all three of its head moved swiftly, trying to wrap all of its heads around the Ichibi's body.
The beast snarled and writhed to escape from the fiery dragons, although the jutsu was non-sentient it tried its best to wrap itself around the Sand demon. Slowly but steadily the lower part of the Ichibi solidified, and this change eventually extended till his neck.
The jutsu had almost lost its chakra till now, it wasn't easy to suppress a tailed-beast even if had only one tail.
"Naruto-san, try to wake up its host. The Ichibi will lose its body if the jinchurikki wakes up" Gamaken said urgently.
Naruto nodded and jumped from his position, in the mid-air he unsealed his staff gripping it tightly in his right hand. As soon as he reached to the head of the sand demon, he swung his staff with full force.
His aim was accurate, as such Gaara was thrusted back with quite some force. Suddenly, the sand formation started to fall and the glass shattered by its weight.
"No! My body, You'll regret this day Uzumaki... I'll make your death so painful—" The Ichibi yelled at his body disintegrated.
"Shut up, you insane tanuki" Naruto muttered jumping down in a crouch.
"Thanks, Gamaken. Without your help, I would've been dead most probably." He yelled waving to his summon.
"I'm glad that I could aid you even after being so clumsy" The large toad croaked before disappearing in a poof of smoke.
Naruto strode forward determined, he would have to either kill the redhead or seal off his chakra. And from what he had learnt from Oji-san, as little politics as he could understand, killing a Kage's son wouldn't be beneficial for Konoha in long-run. Jinchurikki or not.
Shikamaru dropped beside him, and Sai soon followed his lead.
"Were your missions successful?" He asked without looking toward them, and received two nods in return.
"I still couldn't understand why you would stop us from killing the duo, Naruto-san." Sai asked in a monotone voice.
Naruto spared a glance toward him before replying, "If it was any other shinobi you have the full right to end their life for threatening Konoha, children of a Kage from another village are entirely another case however."
Their conversation was interrupted by the whimpering of the redhead in front of them, he was trying to pick his body up to continue fighting but he was too tired to even crawl around.
"How...are you...*gasp*...so strong, U-Uzumaki?!" The boy mumbled eyeing him fearfully.
"That's a discussion for another time, Gaara. It's time for you to sleep now, fear not you'll not be harmed" He said a bit softly, honestly he could see himself becoming just like this boy. If he didn't have Kakashi-nii, Anko-nee, Ero-oji or Oji-san, he would've probably turned out to be a murderous psychopath.
Gaara wasn't a bad person, he was a jinchurikki, clawing and biting his way out to survival. His existence was more important to him than anything, he didn't want to die and it was an instinctive feeling that he shared with every creature.
"Why? W-why would... you show me-mercy to me?" He asked breathing unevenly.
"I will, because I am not too different from you, Gaara." With that single sentence Naruto took out a paper with several seals etched on it from one of the tattoos on his hand, and stuck it on Gaara's forehead. The red head slumped down, falling into a deep slumber without any lingering effect from Ichibi.
Naruto sealed him into a scroll with advanced storage and stasis seals on it, both the sealing paper and the scroll were provided to him by Jiraiya for this special mission.
"Now with our primary mission completed, Shika, you should go and aid the chunins protecting the academy. And Sai, you should re-join your team and lead them to help the chunins secure the hospital." Naruto said taking calming breathes, he was really glad that he had been able to take down Gaara.
He turned toward Sai and Shikamaru, "Before jumping off, hand me the scroll storing both the puppeteer and the blonde. I will deposit them into the IT dept., then I'll move on to help Sasuke and Sakura"
Sai and Shikamaru nodded, and handed him the scrolls without any questions. After all, Naruto was the one who had been given the mission to subdue the Sand demon and any companies he had.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Shishui grunted as he blocked Orochimaru's punch with his forearm, he tried to connect a kick with his opponent's jaw but missed by mere inches.
"You were always one of the strongest shinobi of your clan, I could safely say that you've surpassed Itachi-kun" Orochimaru hissed with a smirk.
Shishui vanished into thin air without replying, he appeared at a certain distance the next moment. His hands were already into tiger seal, "Katon: Grand Fireball technique".
An enormous sized fireball was directed toward his opponent, who hissed in displeasure before going through several hand signs himself. "Suiton: Exploding Water current"
A same sized water wave clashed against the wall of fire, and ended into a blanket of mist.
It was merely a distraction, Shishui was already behind the Snake sannin with his katana unsheathed. Orochimaru bent at an awkward angle to avoid the stab directed at his back, he ducked under the next swing and turned around to deliver a kick to his opponent's chest.
Shishui sidestepped the kick and executed a perfect leg sweep, Orochimaru was already airborne. Two snakes were launched from his sleeves, intent on biting the Uchiha who simply cut them down before they could reach him.
Shishui eyes bled red as looked into the eyes of Orochimaru, unfortunately the Snake sannin was experienced enough to divert his vision as soon as he saw the crimson tint in his opponent glare.
"Quite the fascinating tool is that Sharingan, I've always desire to experiment with its limits" Orochimaru chuckled and worked through a series of hand seals.
"Doton: Snake house" Orochimaru spat a glob of mud on the ground, which soon turned into a 12ft-long mud snake.
"Doton: Snake house" Shishui copied his jutsu effortlessly, the two snakes collided with each other and collapsed into a heap of mud and stone.
"Excellent! I've always wanted to see the jutsu copying alibies of those eyes of yours" Orochimaru cackled with glee.
"Your time's up, Orochimaru. I will punish for the heinous crime you committed by experimenting on the people of Konoha and deserting the Leaf village." Shishui said with a harsh glare.
"Mangekyou Sharingan!" The three tomoes in his eyes morphed into an unusual shape of four-point pinwheel.
Orochimaru felt something he thought he had let go of a long time back, fear. True fear grabbed the hold of his mind, he didn't know that this man held those accursed eyes. He had faced a humiliating defeat at the hand of Uchiha Itachi due to the same eyes, it had seen him abandoning the Akatsuki.
"I-Impossible" Orochimaru snarled as he tried to work through a series of hand seals, unfortunately he wasn't able to do that.
"Amaterasu" Black flames burned his body, his lips parted to release the scream he was holding down. He wasn't able to do so as his body crumpled down like a puppet whose strings have been cut.
"That ends your treacherous life, Orochimaru" Shishui said cutting the flow of chakra to his eyes, deactivating the taxing kekkai-genkai.
"You spoke too soon, Shishui-kun. Underestimating me is worst possible thing you could do" Orochimaru hissed behind him.
Shishui stiffened, it wasn't possible, the flames of Amaterasu couldn't be avoided by a simple kawarimi. The black flames latched on to the very body of its victim, replacing it or submerging it in water or soil wouldn't have any effect.
"H-How's this possible? It's impossible to avoid the flames of Amaterasu" Shishui looked behind him to see the still burning body of Orochimaru.
"It is impossible, but for others not me. You see, I am immortal being. I can simply shed off the skin I'm inhabiting" Orochimaru cackled at the shocked expressions of his opponent.
"I think I should release her now, she would be a perfect match for you Shishui-kun. That way I will get my chance to end the pathetic life of that old dotard" He simply formed a single hand seal, and the last coffin's door exploded forward.
Shishui got the first glimpse of the once legendary kunoichi as she stepped forward like a puppet. She was a fair-skinned and slender woman of feminine build with violet eyes, and striking red hair. Her hair was straight and reached her thighs with shoulder-length strands that framed both sides of her face, it was tied behind with Konoha 's forehead protector. Her attire consisted of a standard Konoha flak jacket over a black short-sleeved shirt, and black form-fitting pants that reached her calves.
Two katana were stripped to her back and a series of scrolls hung from a belt tied to her waist. All in all, she looked like the part of powerful kunoichi that she was.
"Uchiha Shishui, meet Uzumaki Kushina" Orochimaru smirked evilly.
Shishui heard a gasp from behind him and glanced to see Jiraiya standing their shell-shocked, several emotions playing on his face. Affection, disbelief and top of that all; Dread.
Uzumaki Kushina, also known as 'Akai Shi' was one of the elite ninjas of the leaf village. So much so that she had been in run with Minato and Orochimaru for the seat of Hokage, it was only due to her tenant that Hiruzen chose Minato.
Although, she could control the fox in her seal with her Adamantium chains, in her weakened state the nine-tailed fox could influence her heavily. It has been a right decision, not only because Minato was sharp and ruthless enough to take the steps necessary for the betterment of village, but the rampage of Kyubi after it had broken off from the seal during Naruto's birth had proved his theory right.
Still the woman was as formidable as they come, she had been an ANBU for a decade and then became a Jonin. She taught Minato the sealing she knew, and it was her who had revolutionized the barrier corps of Konoha. She had been a well-respected and truly feared shinobi of leaf, her death had shocked Konoha's ranks heavily.
Orochimaru tossed a kunai in the back of head that triggered a response from her, she blinked a few times before looking around herself.
"Huh? Hey! I was dead 'ttebane. Where am I?" She asked worriedly.
"You're in Konoha, dear Kushina. I've brought you back from the list of dead, you can thank me later" Orochimaru chuckled at the growl that left her lips.
"Orochi-teme, What's this? Why have brought me back?" She growled at his chuckle.
"Obviously to lend hand in the destruction of Konoha, Uzumaki. You're my ace in hole after all" He grinned maliciously.
"Hah! As if Hiruzen will let you, you'll be killed way before you plot something nefarious like that" She snorted eyeing his disdainfully.
"Idiot girl, look around yourself. Your beloved Sandaime is busy saving his pathetic life from Shodaime hokage." He pointed toward the battle between Hiruzen and Hashirama.
"S-Shodaime Hokage?!" Kushina gasped as she looked at the fights between two titans. "You're a treacherous fiend, Minato always told me to keep an eye out for you."
Kushina struggled with the power that was holding down her consciousness, if only she could reach to the scroll on her belt.
"It's futile to struggles against my hold, Kushina. I know how potent your chakra was, I wouldn't make the mistake to reanimate you at even 30% of your power." He cackled.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya was looking toward her with tears in his eyes. He had always cared for Kushina like a daughter-in-law, while he was still a pervert he knew where his limits end.
"Snap out of it, Jiraiya. Or you'll die." Mito yelled unconsciously sending another chakra chain toward her opponent.
The chain was almost at his neck when Jiraiya moved, he rolled to his side to avoid the chain and slammed both of his palms on the ground. The roof split as his Doton jutsu did its job, the crack ran toward Mito and before she could look down an explosion of debris and flames rocketed her to the other side of the roof.
Hiruzen landed beside him in crouch, Jiraiya looked over him to see Hashirama stuck in 'Admantine Prison wall'. It would hold him off for enough time so Hiruzen could have small talk with his student.
"With her arrival we need someone strong to handle her, Shishui is strong but even he would be stretched then if he is to fight her and Orochimaru at the same time." Hiruzen said solemnly. "Unfortunately, we need to bring him in. The barrier wouldn't allow any other technique to pass through except fūinjutsu, and as much as I want Tsunade or Kakashi here they aren't adept in fūinjutsu like you or Naruto".
Jiraiya looked at his sensei with wide eyes, "Have you gone insane, Old man? I know Naruto is strong for a genin, but he couldn't possible stand against Kushina. Even at her weakest she will wipe the floor with him, I'll never put the brat in such danger"
Hiruzen sighed looking toward the redhead. "I understand your concern but we don't have any other choice, the Raikage is busy dealing with Rasa—"
The Kazekage was keeping A at his toes, he was at present using his golden sand as extension of his hand in form of large boulders to try and crush the Raikage.
"—Danzo isn't getting younger, he has his handful with Tobirama sensei. And I don't think I would be able to avert my attention from Hashirama-sensei, he's a force to reckon with specially in this form." Hiruzen said with a shake of his head.
"I'll summon one of the battle toads to fight her, sensei. Really, Naruto wouldn't be able to fight with Kushina at even footings, no matter how strong he is" Jiraiya said stubbornly.
"I think you sell Naruto-kun short, Jiraiya. He's my student, do you think he would reveal his true power this easily?" Hiruzen said with a knowing smile.
"You mean; he's been hiding his abilities for so long? I don't believe it" Jiraiya declared with a glare toward his sensei.
"He'll surprise you, my dear student." With that being said, Hiruzen plunged a familiar kunai into the tiles of the roof and channelled a bit of chakra into it.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Naruto formed a single hand seal, "Multi-Shadow clone jutsu".
Atleast three-hundred clones appeared around him, the shinobis fighting in the arena gawked at the amount of solid clones the blond could make.
"Fifty of you should move toward academy, help Shikamaru and Iruka sensei to protect the students and teacher" He ordered. Fifty clones separated from the group and jumped off toward the academy.
"One hundred clones will go into the village, help protect and evacuate civilians as efficiently as you can" Hundreds of them chorused "Hai" before running toward the village.
"I think fifty clones would be enough to help the nins securing the Hospital, move on" Another fifty separated and took the route toward hospital.
"Rest of you should move toward the gates, stop any more enemies from entering the village by any means available" He ordered with a nod of his head.
He turned toward the stands to see that the ANBUs were already dispatching and capturing enemies alike, he was about head toward the village when felt one of his substitution kunai pulling his chakra.
He grinned before allowing the feeling to cover his body and was whisked away the next second.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; All rights are reserved to Kishimoto.