Chapter 874: 51
Chapter 50: For the Sake of the Future
Kisame kept rapidly pursuing Torune and Fuu over the sunset sandy environment of Kaze no Kuni, chasing them further and further away from Itachi and Danzo. If Itachi wanted to take on the old man by himself Kisame could deal with that. It just gave him two enemies of his own to deal with. Maybe he could kill them before Itachi finished the old man off, told him that they had what they came for, and made him stop fighting as was Itachi's nature.
"You two are really good at running away, did you know that?" Kisame taunted, trying to goad them into a fight. But he knew that they weren't stupid enough to turn and fight him just because of an insult or anything like that. Danzo would have made sure the drones that travelled with him personally were far better than that.
Meanwhile the two Root ninja didn't know how to go about countering Kisame's chase. Fuu didn't have the time to set up his signature trap so that left Torune to fight directly and maybe begin the counterattack. They needed to get back to Danzo, but they first needed to dispose of the ex-Kiri ninja. A daunting task indeed.
Torune had already pulled the gloves off of his hands revealing that they seemed to look purple. This was the sign of his Aburame Clan Kikaichuu, although his were special nano-sized insects that did something more devious than simply draining chakra. Torune and Fuu looked at each other before wordlessly nodding and breaking directly apart away from each other, splitting Kisame's attention.
Fuu quickly threw a trio of shuriken at Kisame who blocked with his bandage covered Samehada. Torune then took advantage of Kisame's focus being diverted and launched at the man with his fist cocked back, ready to strike. Kisame simply smirked and the bandages on Samehada flew off, as it grew in size and bent around like a flail, stopping Torune's attack, "Now that's more like it. Keep me entertained why don't you?"
Samehada then snapped back to its normal position, flinging Torune away and keeping the Aburame from making contact with him. All of a sudden, a scarecrow looking puppet with sickle-like limbs dove from the sand and rushed right towards Kisame.
The Akatsuki swordsman jumped back as the puppet plunged, missing its attack and hitting a sand dune. Kisame tried to scan the area for Fuu but was unable to see him. A growl from Samehada put a smirk on his face, "Well I found you." He then went off away from Torune and the strange scarecrow in a seemingly random direction. It turned out to be not a random direction at all as Fuu burst from a hiding place in the sand before Kisame could reach him, "Heh, Samehada can sense your chakra fool."
Fuu grit his teeth and tried to steel his expression, 'I couldn't even finish my jutsu before that bastard found me!' It had been a long time since Fuu or Torune had fought someone as strong as Kisame. They probably had never fought anyone as strong as Kisame to be quite honest, and despite his reputation as a bloodthirsty musclehead it would be difficult to catch him off-guard. No one in Root's ranks except for Naruto who was more of an associate instead of an operative at this point had the brute power to match Kisame head-to-head. If he couldn't hide his presence then his body was vulnerable when he tried his variant of the Yamanaka Clan jutsu.
"Come on boys!" Kisame said with a boisterous match, "Don't tell me that's all you've both got! I expected more of a fight from those little suicidal puppets from Root after what I've heard!"
They were most certainly not suicidal… but as far as Torune and Fuu were concerned, getting into a fight with someone better than them was not a suicidal action. After all, there was always a chance that they could win, slim as it may be. And in Root they all knew that even if a chance was slim, as long as something was in the realm of possibility they would possibly be sent on a mission to complete or obtain whatever it was.
The best of them had their resolves tempered in the fires of hell so to speak.
And that's why they would not cut and run. Because they couldn't. Because they had faced down situations like this, potentially with odds that were worse. Because it didn't matter how much of a monster Kisame was, it was their job to deal with the things that no one else could.
Even if it killed them.
XxX
(Danzo vs. Itachi)
When Itachi and Danzo blurred from sight, they had been prepared for a high-speed opening to their battle. That was not what occurred. Instead of trading offense, Itachi wound up staring at what Danzo's right arm looked like. Grey and discolored, but that was not the staying point of what was so intriguing… horrifying… well viewers to what Itachi was bearing witness to would have to come up with their own descriptive adjectives for what he saw.
Because imbedded all throughout Danzo's right arm were ten implanted, fully matured Sharingan eyes.
"You don't want to do this Itachi." Danzo insisted as he brought his greatest weapon to bear. Not a single person in his employ, in all of Konoha knew that he had these eyes. They were even bigger secrets than the eye he had in his right socket. That he could easily explain away, the others… not so much.
Ignoring Danzo's words, Itachi simply stared at the right arm of Danzo, not moving or saying a word. His eyes merely stared at Danzo's arm before they suddenly snapped up towards Danzo, "I could accept just one." Itachi started to say, "I could accept you using just one Sharingan the way Naruto did, after all he wound up losing his eye before our battle. And I never held any ill will towards Kakashi for his own. The Sharingan is a powerful tool. But how do you think this looks Danzo? This doesn't look like the death of my clan was for the good of anyone other than yourself."
Danzo merely shook his head, not offended by Itachi's words, "Believe whatever you wish Itachi. This was done to truly keep our home safe."
"Home…" Itachi shut his eyes as if he had been trying to remember what Konoha was like, "I do not have a home any longer Danzo."
"Do you regret any of it?" Danzo asked.
Itachi sighed and shook his head, "Everyday. But regrets are merely wastes of time, solving none of the problems produced by the actions that are remembered." Itachi then disappeared in a flock of crows as his voice echoed out all around Danzo, "There are no reasons to have any regrets. What's done is done."
"Words to live by." Danzo admitted, 'Or in this case die by… because he seems to be intent on truly doing this. At the very least I know what Itachi is capable of due to Naruto's recount of his battle with him.' A wisp of sand kicking up for a second in Danzo's peripheral vision gave him the range of Itachi to himself. He then made a set of hand-seals and inhaled deeply before spinning around and exhaling, "Fuuton: Shinkuuha (Wind Release: Vacuum Blade)!"
A blade of wind formed around Danzo and cut into a body, revealed to be Itachi, however after being cut in half the body detonated in a great explosion. Danzo however was able to see the explosion before the combustion spread and he managed to blow himself away from the explosion faster by exhaling wind from his mouth.
"I am sorry elder." Itachi said, appearing suddenly behind Danzo with a kunai, "But you broke our covenant." Naruto in Root would always be Danzo's strongest weapon. In Itachi's mind it was negligent of him to not inform Naruto… he believed that Danzo left him uninformed so he could have Sasuke taken out but still have plausible deniability. Danzo was devious like that, Itachi wouldn't have put it past him.
Before Itachi could stab Danzo, Danzo turned his head directly down and blew more wind chakra from his mouth, kicking up a large cloud of dust to obscure Itachi's vision. A blind Uchiha was historically acknowledged as a dead Uchiha, especially in the later annals of the clan's history. Without those eyes they didn't have much else to make up for the loss with. This however was not just any Uchiha, it was Itachi Uchiha, and while he might not have been able to defeat Danzo without his eyes he could damn sure last long enough with them closed to avoid being blinded by sand to show Danzo that he was not to be trifled with.
Danzo believed that Itachi was still in the cloud of sand, as his Sharingan hadn't caught any movement coming from it. Danzo took a deep breath and exhaled, planning on blowing the sand out of his field of sight and even more into Itachi's eyes, until he heard Itachi call his jutsu out.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)!"
Danzo's wind actually helped to fan the flames of Itachi's jutsu, turning his fireball into something akin to a firestorm as it came roaring at Danzo stronger than any other time he had seen the rather common elemental jutsu used. As the flames engulfed his entire body in an unavoidable torrent that gave time for the sand to disperse, Danzo's stoic outlook on things truly found itself put to the test when the sand cleared, "So you truly are taking this battle seriously." He said as his voice echoed out around the area, his body not visible.
"I can't afford to save my energy against you Danzo." Itachi said as the sand cloud finished clearing, revealing him covered completely by his Susanoo, "Luckily I am fully recovered from my injuries suffered in my last battle… and my illness has cleared up for the moment."
Itachi's illness. Through his entire life Itachi had suffered in secret due to his uncurable sickness contracted back when he was a Konoha shinobi. Not even anyone in his clan knew of his disease, as Itachi refused to allow anyone to discover such a detriment that could be taken advantage of. Not even the Hokage at the time himself was aware of it.
Danzo knew of it simply because Danzo knew things about the people of interest in his village, his Root specialized in discovering the dirty little secrets of others. It had caused Itachi's stamina, and by proxy his chakra reserves, to suffer in varying degrees depending on how much he exerted himself, the climate in which he was in, hell even the weather affected him. All sorts of variables… it was quite cumbersome and a testament to Itachi's true skill and strength that he managed to become such a powerful shinobi with such a handicap.
And as the large flaming ethereal warrior surrounded Itachi's body, Danzo reappeared, looked at the setting sun over the sandy wastes of the country. And at that moment… he really wished that he was fighting Itachi in inclement weather and that it wasn't a beautiful evening with even temperatures. Because unlike Naruto he didn't have the advantage of crappy weather or even a person to fight alongside him to divert Itachi's attention.
Naruto wasn't able to break through Susanoo even with his most destructive jutsu… even though he could have but he hadn't done it right. The way he had gone about attacking the Susanoo construct would have been impossible for even the mightiest ninja to accomplish. Danzo would not make the same mistake in this battle. His aim would be perfect… unlike Naruto's. Because after learning of the Yata no Kagami (Eight Span Mirror) he knew exactly what to do.
He learned a lesson after learning of Naruto's battle with Itachi and Sasuke. He knew just what to do, all he needed was an opening.
XxX
(Meanwhile – Mount Myouboku)
Naruto was mentally preparing himself for the next day of training tomorrow as he sat in the house possessed by Shima and Fukasaku. He and Jiraiya were both waiting on dinner, dinner that was being cooked by Shima. Both hated what the elderly toad woman concocted night after night, but what could they do? Naruto took shoveling the terrible food down as a way to train his resolve. Jiraiya just held back tears whenever he ate it.
All of a sudden Naruto grit his teeth and slammed his fists on the table, "Fuck! I'm stupid!" He suddenly exclaimed, getting Jiraiya's attention as he was about to doze off waiting on food.
"We knew that." Jiraiya quipped before getting to the meat of the situation, "What's the matter gaki? Something wrong?"
Naruto moaned and dropped his head on the table, "Nothing but my hindsight…" He admitted, thumping his head on the surface once before continuing to speak, "When I was fighting Sasuke and Itachi I fought his strongest jutsu, Susanoo."
"And?" Jiraiya asked, trying to get him to explain further. He had already heard Naruto's account of the battle. It sounded like it had been a barnburner, "Tell me what you just figured out about the fight kid."
Naruto sat back up and drummed his fingertips on the table, "I was stupid when I attacked Susanoo… I took it head-on and I couldn't get through to Itachi himself."
Jiraiya rubbed his nose, "It's alright kid. Nothing you've got, nothing I've got. Nothing anyone has can get through Itachi's Susanoo and that freaky shield that it has."
"That's the thing…" Naruto said with a frown, "I could've gotten through as long as I hadn't attacked head-on. The shield was what kept me from cutting through Susanoo, otherwise I would have cut through that stupid-ass thing like a hot knife through butter… or like a spoon through Shima's fly soup." He smirked when he saw Jiraiya turn green just thinking about the food he had brought up.
Jiraiya choked down his nausea and got back on topic, "So you could have decisively won that battle for sure without getting repelled the way you did?" Naruto nodded, "Wow. Do you think Itachi knows about that little weakness?"
Naruto shook his head, "Who else would he have possibly used Susanoo against to test it? He probably only trained with it to learn how to attack and to learn how to use the shield thing… other than that he doesn't know about the fact that there's one big ass weakness about Susanoo that I couldn't take advantage of while I was holding the Rasenshuriken, and I'm not talking about all of the chakra it takes to keep it going. Susanoo in its complete form pretty much anchored him to the ground except for some lumbering footsteps."
It was clear from the look on Jiraiya's face that he barely recognized what Naruto was referencing. Naruto blinked and had the bright idea to activate his Sharingan and use the only genjutsu that Danzo had been able to instruct him on, using the directions that he had gotten from the tablet in Konoha's Naka Shrine.
After sitting there for a few minutes while he took in Naruto's explanation and the end of the battle through Naruto's eyes via genjutsu Jiraiya's eyes widened in realization as Naruto's point hit him, "Which means-!"
"Exactly." Naruto cut him off, knowing exactly what the old toad sage was about to get to, "When Itachi used Susanoo he couldn't move nearly as fast as he normally could, like he was literally lugging it around. If you were fast enough and had enough space to move and get Susanoo's back then Itachi couldn't turn around fast enough to counter you." Susanoo was usually big enough to catch anyone with that huge sword it had. It's reach was incredible, "*sigh* A whole lot of good that information does me now though." Once again… hindsight was 20/20.
As he looked outside, Naruto couldn't help but notice that the setting sun made the mountains of the toads look as if the place was drenched in blood. He didn't know why he thought such a morbid thought at the time and immediately cleared it from his mind.
XxX
(Kisame vs. Torune/Fuu)
Kisame was grinning from ear to ear. The two were not backing down, but even they knew that they had a slim chance of touching him at all. Even so, they had drawn their tanto and were eagerly trying to cut him down, compounding their individual efforts to take him down. Still, he had been a member of the most elite force of swordsmen in the world. These two were intermediate users at best. It wasn't enough.
Fuu cried out in pain as he found himself slashed across the chest, with Samehada's scales shaving off the material of his shirt and the flesh on his torso. Torune tried to attempt a slash but it wound up being blocked by Samehada, followed up with a spinning back kick from Kisame that sent him flying, "Heh, come on ladies! That can't be everything you've got! I'm sick of going through the motions here!"
This was hopeless. At this rate the two of them wouldn't be able to even fight Kisame to a stand-still. It was obvious that he wasn't even taking them seriously. He wasn't trying to kill them, he was prolonging the battle, confident in Itachi's ability to handle Danzo all on his own. He just wanted to get as much enjoyment out of this fight as he could.
"I hate this desert." Kisame commented offhandedly, "It's so dry out here, there's no water for me to use." He then made the snake hand-seal, "Good thing I brought my own so to speak. Suiton: Bakusui Shouha (Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave)!" Kisame opened his mouth and spat out an ungodly amount of water that formed a massive wave headed right for Fuu and Torune.
Seeing this coming right for them the only option available for the time being was basically how this entire battle had started, with them running like hell. Except now instead of just running from Kisame swinging a sword they were running from Kisame swinging a sword while he was riding a tidal wave.
Kisame was actually quite amused when he saw the two Root ninja run from his tidal wave. He laughed to himself and made a tiger seal, "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Clone Jutsu)!" Ten copies of Kisame formed from the still crashing tidal wave, all of them running after Fuu and Torune, "Run for your life boys! You've got ten Mizu Bunshin chasing after you… don't slip up now!"
Torune turned around over his shoulder to see just how desperate his situation was. There was no by the books way to handle this one. That meant that he had to come up with something that came out of left field. That was the mindset of the masked Root operative when he stopped running away and immediately turned towards the onslaught. His insects were not large enough to create a wall or anything like most Aburame Clan members could do, not that it would do much good here.
There was something he could do though. With his tanto he cut through all ten of the weakened water copies of Kisame when they tried to engage him, insulted that the man thought that would stop them even if he was that much stronger than them on his own.
His focus could not be shaken as he allowed the water to crash into him directly, taking the brunt of Kisame's tidal wave just as he tore the top of his outfit off. There was no way he was going to survive that kind of impact.
"Torune!" Fuu shouted in vain to his partner. What were the chances that he would walk away from that? What were the chances that Fuu could even come close to beating Kisame on his own? In the end it didn't matter. His partner went down fighting, and if that fate was good enough for Torune it was good enough for him too.
Kisame laughed at what Torune had done. What had he been thinking? As the waves tapered out and subsided they seemingly made a lake in what otherwise would have been a pit of sand that both Kisame and Fuu now stood on the surface of. Kisame addressed Torune's attempt at whatever it was he had been trying to do, "Your partner… he fought hard… he fought well. I wouldn't have died though. That's just me."
Fuu could see Torune's body nearby floating face down in the manmade lake. He was not moving. But what Fuu did see gave him a little bit of hope for winning. Torune had not just thrown himself at Kisame in a suicidal attempt to go down swinging. There had been a method to his madness that only Fuu as his longtime partner could see. Torune's sacrifice had purpose. Until that purpose took hold he just had to stay alive. He would know when Torune's last strategy paid off.
XxX
(Danzo vs. Itachi)
Danzo had to say, Susanoo was an imposing figure. There was no getting around that fact. Just the sheer intimidation factor alone of its finished form would be enough to convince a lesser ninja that they didn't have the firepower to deal with it. But Danzo did in fact have the firepower to deal with it, and he knew exactly how to do it, having learned from Naruto's mistake in his own battle with Itachi. He had three ways to win this. One would be to make this a prolonged battle of attrition.
And as Itachi's gigantic armored Susanoo moved forward he figured for now that would have to do as his primary plan, there was no reason to expect any openings to just automatically present themselves to make the finish any easier for his other two plans. He had to be ready for a long battle.
Itachi forced Susanoo to grab its ethereal sword and unsheathe it in an attempt to cut Danzo down, only for Danzo to jump high into the air, given a boost by him exhaling wind chakra through his mouth, "What a versatile element you have." Itachi commented before guiding Susanoo to slash Danzo out of the air, "But it stands to assert that Naruto's own mastery of wind is greater than yours and he could not defeat me."
"He did defeat you." Danzo commented before he again exhaled wind from his mouth in mid-air and avoided the attack on what was meant to be his prone position, "He simply did not finish you. He accomplished his goals while you did not or did Sasuke kill you and I'm fighting a ghost right now?" He said, a jibe at Itachi's intention to give his life for Sasuke, "Do you have any idea how badly you traumatized that boy? You should have simply let things lie as they were Itachi."
"I don't need you to tell me that." Itachi remarked, barely hiding his ire as he sent Susanoo after Danzo who was steadily backpedaling, using his wind stream from his mouth as a boost to move faster. Suddenly, the form of Susanoo vanished and Itachi began rushing towards Danzo, "Today you fall."
Danzo noticed Itachi trying to make eye contact, a no-no in a battle against Sharingan users even when one of the users had the Mangekyou Sharingan. There could be only one thing that he wanted done and it would probably have crushed Danzo, leaving him only one option as he focused his chakra towards the Sharingan in his right eye socket, 'You will not use the Tsukuyomi in battle.'
Using the power of his particular Sharingan, Danzo gave the subtle mental command to Itachi that he would not use his terrifying genjutsu on him, as he was certain it would spell the end for him if he had. Genjutsu was not his forte despite his use of one particular technique.
Itachi seemed as if he had a change of heart while he had been getting closer to Danzo, however this did not keep him from attacking altogether, he just didn't attack with Tsukuyomi, "Amaterasu (Illuminating Heaven)." With that, Danzo's body immediately caught ablaze, signifying that Itachi's aim with the black inextinguishable flames managed to strike true. However Danzo's body merely vanished from his sight instead of expiring before his eyes, "I had a feeling this wouldn't be very easy." Itachi commented, not knowing where Danzo would resurface from, thus keeping his sharp eyes peeled for anything. He had to say, the lack of going blind due to using his techniques was very much valued. If only it didn't have to come at the price that it did. He had never wanted it to end that way with him and Sasuke.
"Are you letting your mind slip Itachi?" Itachi was broken from his reverie of his brother's fate and cursed, this was not the time to show his regrets in battle, it would end with him dying in the sands, "Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere)!" In Itachi's blindspot out of his peripheral vision, Danzo stood and fired several simultaneous small bullets of air at Itachi, "You're fighting a proxy battle Itachi." Danzo commented as Itachi dodged the attack, showing the depth of his speed and skill, "Your heart isn't in this, you're just fighting for the sake of fighting. That is not the way to win."
Taking offense at Danzo claiming that he had no real reason to fight him there, Itachi responded, "My heart is the entire reason I'm here to fight… or its lack thereof. My heart, my hopes, my goals were with Sasuke. I keep going for him." Itachi stated as he forced Danzo to burst into flames with another Amaterasu before that body vanished as well, forcing Itachi to narrow his eyes in suspicion.
"If that were true…" Danzo's disembodied voice echoed out from seemingly nowhere around Itachi, "Then this battle really is lost for you. Your reason isn't much of a reason at all. Do you even know what you're doing here?"
Itachi noticed another appearance of Danzo and pursued him, intent on getting to the bottom of what his evasion technique was, "Tying up the loose ends of the village as well as my own." He said in a veiled insult to Danzo, "Your 'Root' needs to be pulled from the village's foundations. You are an unnecessary appendage sucking life from Konoha and the ninja world in general."
"Do you think I've never heard anyone insult my Root before?" Danzo said as Itachi drew closer. He doubted that even in his prime he would have been able to move faster than Itachi Uchiha, well now he was seeing firsthand that most certainly could not, "Peace is not as free as most of you in the village seem to think it is. The enemy is always at the gates. Root just ensured that they would be a little further away." He began to make more hand-seals.
Too bad that Itachi was faster and finished his set before Danzo could, "Too slow. Fuuton: Shinkuuha (Wind Release: Vacuum Wave)." Itachi had copied Danzo's earlier jutsu and had turned it against him, exhaling and spinning around rapidly to cut Danzo into segments with his wind blades… but once again Danzo's body vanished. After Danzo's body had vanished this time, cuts appeared on Itachi's body.
"Foolish." Danzo's voice stated, "This is why most of the wind techniques I knew were never used by my Uchiha Clan team member years ago despite him having unlocked his Sharingan. Most of my special wind ninjutsu are dangerous to attempt for anyone without full mastery of the element." It was true, not even Naruto had been able to learn any of them in his youth under Danzo's training. Naruto could only learn one, the Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere), the basis of which he used to create his own signature move later in his career, the Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God). Instead of a finely pressurized finesse piercing attack though, Naruto's jutsu was just brute force. It didn't require hand-seals to use though which was impressive.
Itachi nursed the cuts on his person, grateful that none of them were too deep. If the jutsu had been stronger then he probably would have suffered quite a bit of damage instead of just the shallow wounds he received there. He finally decided that it was time to cease the deep conversation and finish things. He knew what Danzo was using to keep himself out of harm's way and he had to say that he was shocked Danzo would use such a forbidden technique. Not even Itachi would have considered attempting it.
"Susanoo (He With The Ability To Help By All Means)." In a rush of ghostly flames, Itachi's complete spiritual protector took its place around him, keeping him out of any potential harm's way. The next time Danzo showed himself he would get the answer for certain of just what the old man was doing to defeat his own demise, "I always knew that you feared death Danzo but to go this far to escape it. Your use of the Izanagi is ingenious… to say nothing of your moral faculties."
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"
In the distance a bearded creature with the top of its head wrapped in bandages much like Danzo was usually seen that had the body and trunk of an elephant and the legs and claws of a tiger appeared in front of Itachi and Susanoo quite a distance out of its reach. Itachi didn't react much to the creature however, staying on his guard but nothing more than that, "Your Baku summon. You really are pulling out all the stops against me aren't you?" Itachi said to himself.
His rhetorical answer came when the Baku creature began inhaling as hard as it could, causing a powerful suction effect that drew in sand and seemingly more if there had been anything there. Itachi merely hunkered down and defended with Susanoo, shield out towards the Baku to negate its suction, "You cannot break through Susanoo's Yata no Kagami (Eight Span Mirror). It negates all elemental attacks on it."
"Fuuton: Shinkuu Renpa (Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves)!"
Itachi was unable to turn his back fast enough to move Susanoo and its shield towards the new threat. Surrounding the incoming Danzo's body was a torrent of massive wind blades, coming at Itachi from all sorts of different angles. He could see the blades actually cutting through the sand in the air. And once the suction from the Baku got to it, the jutsu seemed to grow even stronger.
All in all there was really nothing that Itachi could do as the blades cut into Susanoo deep enough to actually cut into him. As Danzo witnessed the blood fly from Itachi's body and the young man himself fall to the ground he had to give a nod of thanks to Naruto for laying the groundwork for his plan to even take shape. Thanks to his ability to deduce Susanoo's weak point from Naruto's telling of his battle his strongest wind attack did not fall to Susanoo's mirror the way Naruto's had.
XxX
(Kisame vs. Fuu)
Finding oneself getting pummeled in a fight that one believed they had at least a 50-50 chance of winning is never a good feeling. The feeling of getting oneself pummeled in a fight that one knew right from the start that they never had the slightest snowball's chance in hell of winning was more of a hollow feeling to be quite frank.
The latter is what Fuu was feeling at the moment. With the death of his partner Torune, he had no real offensive attack. Any ninjutsu he could have launched on Kisame's person would have ended with him having to leave his body to do so.
Which left him the alternative of trading blades with the 'Monster of the Hidden Mist'.
Fuu's desperate attempts to bring Kisame down as they continued to fight in what would probably wind up being one of Kaze no Kuni's new oasis's were not bearing him any fruit. Kisame was systematically dicing him up. Shredding would actually be the more accurate term for what was happening to him if he were to stop and analyze the situation.
Kisame let out a few pleased chuckles at the sight of the blood dripping from Fuu's frame onto the surface of the water. Samehada had been steadily devouring his chakra with each swing he managed to connect with, "You've fed my sword so well I think it has to work off some of its extra calories if you catch my drift." He had to say that this young Root ninja was tough, no one could ever call them out for being spineless that was for sure. Questionable in their actions? Definitely, but they would fight you as hard as they could if that was how things were to be.
Fuu fought off sweet unconsciousness, knowing that if he shut his eyes he would drop, and that would be the end of him with absolutely nothing to show for it. Torune's sacrifice to assist in Kisame's demise would have been in vain. But he knew that Samehada working off calories was code for 'I'm about to hit you with a big-ass jutsu. I'm just telling you in advance because I think it would be funny to see how you'd stop it.'.
Kisame's hands, still clasped around Samehada, flew towards the ram seal as he began to build chakra and Fuu realized something important. Kisame didn't know that he was a Yamanaka. He had never actually seen him use his clan technique, he had just seen the scarecrow puppet and must have figured him to be a puppeteer. In reality when he had been using the scarecrow that was actually something that had his consciousness in it, meant to be a trap that Kisame never sprang out of sheer chance.
Well there was one jutsu that every Yamanaka could do, and Kisame's building of his chakra left him wide open to it. Fuu's hands were just as fast as Kisame's as they flew towards his jutsu-specific hand-seal and unlike Kisame he didn't need to build the chakra for it, "Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Jutsu)!" Firing off the jutsu, Fuu made sure to fall backwards so that he could float on the surface of the water instead of drown face down.
And just like that, Fuu found himself inside of Kisame's body, allowing himself a smirk with the blue-skinned man's own facial features. However his triumph did not last. Kisame's body had still been holding Samehada, and Samehada did not approve of this imposter of Kisame. He was not as strong as his actual user and it despised that.
Samehada forced spikes from its handle, stabbing into the hands of Fuu in Kisame's body and forcing him to let go of the sentient weapon that then growled at him from the mouth at the top of its blade. It lunged at the imposter in its user's body and wrapped itself around it in a tightly constricting move that forced him under the surface of the water, 'What is this thing doing?' Fuu thought as Samehada began dragging itself along Kisame's body underwater, 'Is it really willing to damage it's own user to get me out of it?'
In reality, Fuu's body was being damaged by Samehada's scales as well as Kisame's. If this were really Kisame then he would be tough enough to force the sword to stop hurting him. This imposter in Kisame's body could do nothing of the sort, thus it was not Kisame. Besides… Kisame was more than tough enough to take this.
It felt as if Fuu's skin was being slowly shaved off, 'This thing will flay me alive if I stay in this body!' His own body would be useless if that were indeed the case. As such, Fuu found it prudent to force himself back into his own body.
And as he did so he began sputtering and splashing, shouting in pain as he could feel and see the terrible wounds inflicted due to Samehada. But he couldn't dwell on this because he could hear Kisame growling.
Over where he had left his body, Kisame was back on the surface of the water, holding his hands in the ram seal and glaring at Fuu murderously, "You won't get that chance again…" He muttered lowly. His Akatsuki cloak had been shredded off of his body and the marks where Samehada had rubbed up against him were clearly bloody and visible, "Suiton: Dai Bakusui Shouha (Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave)!"
Once again, Kisame spit out a massive torrent of water that hit Fuu, only this time it did not hit with crushing force the way his last attack of this nature had done to Torune. It had moved in a capturing motion as it began to form a massive orb that was able to keep its own shape. Fuu found himself with an all new set of problems as he was now caught in a full-scale underwater field.
"You're going to suffer…" As Kisame stated this, his body began to fuse with Samehada, turning him into a full human-shark hybrid, "Suirou Sameodori no Jutsu (Water Prison Shark Dance Jutsu). There's no escape." He then noticed a grin on Fuu's face as he seemingly tried to hold his breath with a pained expression, "What are you grinning about? You're trapped!"
'It hurts…' Fuu thought to himself, 'It hurts so bad… but it's not my injuries.' He looked down at his arm and noticed that part of his skin was purple and it seemed to be spreading. This was the effect of Torune's special insects. As he looked around he could see his partner's dead body floating in the orb with them. Kisame had sealed his own fate.
"What is this?" Kisame asked, straining himself painfully as his skin began to break out in purple spots all over, "What's going on?"
Fuu had to stay alive a bit longer, if only to see whether or not his partner's plan would truly work in his death, 'He allowed his nano-insects to scatter in the water with his death. They can't survive for long in the open air, but in a place like this they can live on outside of their host's body for a little while.' It was one of the ways that they had managed to bring down the sizeable Prajna Group, using this method to poison their water supply. Kisame's body was almost completely purple and sickly looking at this point. He had swallowed the water… he had been around it, having it splash all over him more than Fuu had. His dose would most assuredly be fatal.
'Good work…' Fuu thought as he allowed his eyes to close, succumbing to the cell-destroying effect of Torune's bugs.
Kisame on the other hand screamed until his eyes rolled into the back of his head. His demise had been far more painful than Fuu's. There was nothing he could do after taking so much water into his actual body. With his death, Samehada separated from his body and the massive orb of water lost its foundation to hold, dropping and filling the lake that Kisame had already created even further.
All three bodies; Kisame, Fuu, and Torune, floated lifelessly on the top of the water as Samehada let out noises that sounded like crying as it floated along as well. The sun had long since finished setting, bathing the entire scene in white moonlight.
XxX
(Danzo vs. Itachi)
Danzo's eyes had turned to the slight distance away as a massive orb of water was visible on the horizon before it eventually dispersed. That was clearly where his underlings had been fighting their own battle and it looked to be a very destructive one to boot. The thought of another battle to fight against an Akatsuki member made him look down at his right arm, 'I've got six Sharingan eyes left. Itachi took four to defeat. Hopefully Kisame won't take any.' He thought as he noticed that four of the eyes on his arm were worthless now.
All of a sudden, in the distance, the Baku, his summon, attracted Danzo's attention as it let out a wail of anguish and pain before dispelling. He saw no explosion or any sign of combat and he could not see Itachi in sight, 'Itachi must have defeated my summon… genjutsu because it wasn't much of a fight. He's not dead after all.' He hadn't even left a trail of blood from where Danzo left him. To move so fast without a sign of him doing so and to leave no trace; Itachi really had been worthy of his Konoha station as ANBU captain. Danzo made to head in the direction of the place where his summoned creature dispelled.
"The Izanagi. The Sharingan's most forbidden jutsu." Hearing Itachi's voice stopped him in his tracks, "The power to remove the barrier between illusion and reality… although it comes at the price of sight in the Sharingan eye that performs the technique." Danzo noticed Itachi standing up with his Akatsuki cloak cast aside, his wounds visible on his body, "A small price to pay though for cheating death isn't it Danzo? After all, why face your fear when you can just avoid it altogether?"
"You are correct Itachi." Danzo admitted, "I did fear death. I feared death for the longest time. I feared that without me Konoha would be lost. Konoha's right flank would be forever unguarded… that my death would end with the death of our village." Itachi seemed to have a satisfied look on his face, hearing Danzo say those things, "That was until I realized that such a fear was foolish."
Itachi simply blinked at the seeming change of heart in Danzo. Something he hadn't expected out of the notoriously stubborn elderly man, "What are you talking about?"
"The village existed before I ever gained the power to organize Root." Danzo stated, drawing a kunai and breathing his wind chakra on it, giving it a temporary appearance of a scimitar coating, "It takes both sides, both the light and the dark to maintain the balance to keep Konoha safe. Hiruzen secured the light half, passing down the Will of Fire we were all taught to all of the youth… and I have secured Konoha's protection from the shadows with my future generation of operatives. The village will survive on after I die. My faith has been with the future of the village as its next Hokage will be Naruto Uzumaki."
"And you truly believe this?" Itachi said as Susanoo began to form around him again, his body beginning to twitch due to the chakra he had used to continue the battle thus far, "You really believe that Naruto can become the Hokage and keep Konoha safe?"
"I would bet my life on it." Danzo said before forming two hand-seals, "As a matter of fact I already have. Fuuton: Shinkuu Taigyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere)!" He inhaled deeply and launched a massive single ball of wind at Itachi only for Susanoo to block the easily scouted frontal attack, "Something you failed to do when instead of letting your brother move on with his future you forced him to dwell in the past!"
Itachi's eyes reflected hatred as Susanoo lunged forward with its sword. Danzo lifted his right arm and a massive tree grew from nothing in the sand as a defensive measure, however the sword was not truly physical and phased right through before stabbing through Danzo, "Do not speak of things you don't understand." Itachi said tersely. When Danzo's body faded again out of his sight he didn't even allow him the chance to materialize anywhere else as when he saw Danzo's body again, the yellow eyes of Susanoo glowed brightly for a split-second prior to a large scale of area that Danzo stood in spontaneously combusting, "You know nothing of why I did the things I did!"
"You manipulated your brother worse than I've ever manipulated anyone." Danzo's disembodied voice said before he reappeared a ways away from Itachi and Susanoo, breathing slightly heavily. The powerful series of jutsu that he had been using were not intended to be used by someone with his genes. The Sharingan alone would have been taxing enough on his chakra reserves, but using the one in his head and the ten in his arm in conjunction with Izanagi, as well as the Mokuton genes he needed for him to use Izanagi in the first place was draining him steadily, "You really are a student of Madara. You have a gift for twisting others to your will just like he does. Not even Shisui's doujutsu could have so completely warped Sasuke the way you did."
"That's enough out of you!" Itachi roared as he brought Susanoo to bear, driving forward to end Danzo's life. He had never been so angry in his entire life. The only time that ever came close was when he believed that Naruto had killed Sasuke in the middle of their three-way battle.
The sword swept across the top of the sands and caught Danzo cleanly. Itachi merely kept Susanoo swinging its sword despite the fact that the constant action and the strain of using Susanoo was aggravating his sickness. He needed to end this now. With that in mind he wound up cleaving Danzo two more times. Danzo reappeared in the air above Susanoo's sword only for its eyes to glow yellow again while looking at him in the sky and force another instant explosion that engulfed the Root commander.
Itachi knew that Danzo was not dead. If he hadn't died yet then he would not be dying from such an attack. Even if it was just as impossible to dodge as Amaterasu, Danzo still had more Sharingan eyes to use Izanagi. And right when he thought this, Danzo returned right on cue, appearing from thin air as Izanagi canceled itself once more
Susanoo was truly imposing. Danzo just could not get to Itachi a second time. Even when he was able to cut into Susanoo he simply wasn't able to cut deep enough to kill Itachi. He was most certainly feeling the effects of using so many of his Sharingan eyes, but he would not use the one inside of his head. He would not use Shisui's eye for the Izanagi, it was far too valuable to simply waste.
'I need…' Itachi started to think as he coughed violently, 'I need to conserve chakra.' Winning here at the cost of all of his chakra would do him no good, but Danzo wasn't really giving him a lot of options here. Thinking about what he would have to do after the battle if he won, Itachi deactivated Susanoo. If he had used it for too much longer he wouldn't have walked away. There was no need to ensure his demise tonight; Danzo was not Sasuke, 'It is time we bring this to an end.'
Danzo looked at his right arm and grunted. He had left Izanagi active for too long while dealing with Susanoo for that last sequence of attacks. He no longer had any Sharingan eyes to spare, "So has it really come down to this?" He asked Itachi, "After all you've sacrificed are you really willing to ignore all that you have worked for?"
Itachi did not answer Danzo. There was nothing more that needed to be said. One of them would die, either Itachi would clean part of his mind and conscience with Danzo's blood or Danzo would keep Naruto and Konoha safe for a little while longer by taking Itachi's life.
Danzo let out a sigh as he stared Itachi down with his chakra imbued kunai in his hands, "If this is what it has truly come to; either the end of you or me then I want to say just one thing to you Itachi. Thank you. You have sacrificed more than your life, you have sacrificed more than any shinobi even myself would ever have. Your Will of Fire never burned out."
That was something that had never been said. For all he had done, for every sacrifice made, for every Uchiha life that was ended by his hands, for every bit of Itachi's future that was destroyed by the urging of three old shinobi that couldn't find an alternative, for all of that not a single person had ever expressed gratitude. What had Itachi gotten out of his sacrifice? He had lost his family, he had lost his lover, he had lost his career, he had lost his reputation as a stellar and loyal high ranking ninja, he had garnered the unconditional hatred of his beloved younger brother who for the better part of a decade had existed solely to put him six feet under, he had become an international criminal that was destined to be pursued to the ends of the world until his demise.
For all of that he had never even heard one person offer his their appreciation, not one single time. And to hear it at this moment, he didn't know how to feel. But he would not stop, things were too far gone to change now. This battle had to end, no stalemate would do. But as Itachi burst into a flock of crows to initiate the combat once more Danzo's Sharingan eye caught the slightest of movements. For a second Danzo swore that he could see a tear fall down Itachi's face.
And that sight made him realize just how tired he truly was.
Perhaps it would be nice, after 60 plus years of tireless work and fighting, to finally rest.
Let the new blood handle protecting what was now their world.
"This is for Sasuke." Itachi's voice sounded out from behind Danzo, forcing his eyes to widen as he heard loud chirping consistent with only one attack that he knew of, "Chidori (One Thousand Birds)."
There was no time to turn. This one was coming right for his heart. He knew it. He was not fast enough to turn and counter Itachi, not even on his best day he would not have been able to turn fast enough. With his mind running at thousand miles a second, Danzo flipped his wind chakra coated kunai reverse-style and stabbed himself through the stomach just as Itachi's right arm drove itself through his chest from the back. Danzo took one deep breath as the pain tore through him from being impaled twice, but he also heard Itachi let out a sound of pain as well. Danzo moved the blade to find that he had managed to stab Itachi deeply, just as deeply as he had stabbed himself.
Danzo could already feel his control over the implanted Mokuton cells in his arm slipping. It was a race now to see whether or not he would die from Itachi's final attack or from losing control of the Mokuton and turning into a tree. He might have preferred the latter, leaving a lasting impression on the world by being a tree in the middle of the desert, but he still had a job to do and as he twisted the blade deeper and freed a hand to grab a hold of Itachi's arm through his chest he would have to settle for the impression made by training the next Hokage.
Itachi's arm was stuck, he couldn't yank it free. The wound in his own torso was sapping his energy as well as holding him in place just as well as his arm through Danzo.
"This is the end Itachi…" Danzo said, struggling as he reached up past the seal on his chest towards his Sharingan eye to destroy it for safety, "There is nowhere for you to go. You may have the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, but you don't have Madara's ability. You can't avoid this. Ura Shishiou Fuuinjutsu (Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Jutsu)."
Four black double bars released from his body around himself and Itachi before forming a large black sphere around them. It then swiftly started to suck everything caught in the sphere into Danzo's body. It took the sand around them in the shape of a semicircle, leaving quite a crater, but more importantly it took Itachi's body within as well.
Itachi merely shut his eyes and accepted his fate, 'Mother, father, Sasuke… I'll see you all soon.'
As everything found its way absorbed into Danzo's body he lifelessly dropped to the ground, blood pooling around him.
His body merely sat there in the moonlight for the longest time until Zetsu emerged from the ground right next to his corpse, "Well would you look at that? Apparently Itachi Uchiha can be beaten not once but twice." The black side then spoke up, "Even with the power of his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan heightening his abilities Itachi's heart wasn't in the battle. His will to fight has been gone since the Kyuubi jinchuuriki encountered him."
They both moved towards Danzo and gathered him up, "Well we couldn't touch that nasty infested water to get Kisame's body so Madara will just have to make do with Samehada." As they sank back into the ground with Danzo's body the black one spoke up, "Besides, Leader-sama wanted us to bring him Danzo's body as well… I wonder why." He said out loud before his body completely vanished into the sands.
XxX
(With Naruto – Mount Myouboku – Naruto's Mindscape)
In the middle of the night instead of launching into a dream of some sort, Naruto found himself back inside of the sewer mindscape he had yet to set back to normal. Naruto sighed and stomped his way to the bars of the cage, knowing he would only be there for one reason, "What the fuck do you want?"
The eyes of the Kyuubi had yet to open as it found Naruto standing in front of its cage. Of course he was. The Kyuubi had been the one to call him there in the first place, "I believe we need to talk." The massive creature said in a sociable manner that Naruto hadn't come to expect from it.
"Really?" Naruto said, a skeptical look on his face as he chewed on his lip in an irritated manner, "I thought we'd said all we needed to say to each other the last time we spoke. I already told you, if you're going to keep shaking in your sandals every time you see someone with a weird eye pattern then I don't need you dragging me down. I'm fighting for both of our lives here." So far nothing had changed to make Naruto believe that the Kyuubi had changed.
"I have something that you need to know that may change that opinion of yours." The Kyuubi said matter-of-factly, "Your old toad teacher's plan of fusing with you for activating your Sage Mode will not work. You are already fused with me. Any other attempt to do so by another would fail miserably."
Naruto had to hold back from making an outburst. If he couldn't fuse with Fukasaku or Shima then that meant he couldn't use Sage Mode in a manner that would be practical for battle. The time he had spent on the mountain preparing himself until this point was all for nothing if that were the case, "How would that change my opinion? All that would do would be to piss me off even more wouldn't it?" He asked calmly despite the fact that he was indeed very upset by this turn of events.
"Normally yes… but then again where do you think you get your incredible penchant for growth from?" Kyuubi said as it opened its eyes to look at Naruto for the very first time since the conversation had started between them. As it looked upon Naruto's slackjawed stare it couldn't help but feel some satisfaction at surprising so thoroughly the shinobi that had made a living out of surprising absolutely everyone else, "I see you get my point. So now that you've been sufficiently shut up for the first time in quite a while, what did you say about you not needing me?" After all, who would have expected the Kyuubi to learn how to channel sage chakra?
Naruto snapped his jaw shut in an attempt to regain his composure. He definitely hadn't seen that outcome as a possibility. The outcome being the yellow eyes of the Kyuubi with the tell-tale bar-like pupils in them and the orange pigment around its eyes... total sage chakra, "Okay… I admit that I may have had a bit of a temper problem last time." He said admittedly before pointing seriously at the demon, "But now I'm definitely using the Sharingan when we finally fight."
XxX
(Kaze no Kuni)
With the moon high in the sky basking over the area, a group of Suna ninja came across the bodies of Fuu, Torune, and Kisame, all in the contaminated waters made by Kisame for the battle. By now however, the insects had died without an actual living home, having been caught in the open for too long, thus making the water safe to retrieve the corpses from.
"So what do we do now sir?" A random Suna chunin asked after they had inspected the bodies. It had been quite a struggle from the looks of things.
A Sunagakure jounin looked at the dead bodies in scrutiny. Two of the bodies were the bodyguards of the Konoha Elder Danzo Shimura and the other was clearly Kisame Hoshigaki. But Danzo was nowhere to be found despite the blood found quite a ways away.
Still, people needed to be informed of this turn of events, "Gather the bodies and we'll return with them to the village." The jounin ordered the other three chunin with him, "We need to tell Kazekage-sama about this… Konoha will need to know what has happened here."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone