Kapitel 26: Chapter Twenty-Six
A/N- Hey guys. Here's the chappy. Expect the following update on Wednesday next week, and know you can skip the wait and read the following three chapters and continuous updates on Pa-treon right now. Since I now qualify as an unemployed member of society, all subscribers on my pa-treon are much appreciated. If you enjoy my writing, please don't hesitate to support it. For Pa Treon, you can remove the hyphen between Pa and Treon and Google it, then search for my username—Oghenevwogaga. Or you could copy the link in my bio and remove the spaces before pasting it in your address bar. Note: Please subscribe to my pa-treon using the website directly instead of the IOS app. It's cheaper on the website.
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Izanagi, my mind wasted no time in supplying an explanation as I stared at the living breathing visage of a man I'd just watched die. That was really jarring, I told myself. To have watched the life fade from his body, certain that it had happened and to have it just unmade from reality. Casting a genjutsu on reality itself as I'd heard the fanbase describe it as in my first life certainly didn't do justice to how absolutely broken the jutsu was.
"How is Granduncle?" I asked, giving up on standing up and allowing my body to just remain prone against the mud. Some of it lifted itself obediently to cradle my form and give my back some support.
"Can't activate those eyes of yours anymore?" The man asked sardonically and I didn't even have the energy to glare at him.
"Won't" I replied.. "Won't" because I could activate the byakugan if I really wanted to. Only problem with that was that my head hurt something fierce and was unlikely to get better. Adding a byakugan induced headache to that cocktail of problems was suicidal to a degree that I wasn't even close to approaching.
"Alright then. If you must know, Hokage-sama has summoned a third water dragon and now all three of them are encircling the Eight tails to keep it from moving. The creature is struggling against the binding but so far seems to be caught. Hokage-sama is not pressing the attack like one would expect him to, given his position.
"Why?" I asked.
"His chakra reserves seem to be close to exhaustion" He said in reply.
"Go help him then" I replied.
"Do you really think there's anything I could do against a tailed beast of all things?" He asked snidely.
"Maybe try putting it under genjutsu. Just go"
"Hokage-sama would be tiffed with me if I just left you lying around injured on the battlefield"
"Are you anbu or not? Your first duty is keeping Konoha safe. That means keeping the Hokage safe. Besides, if you think I'm vulnerable then you've got another thing coming" the mud around us moved according to my will to form a hand about the size of my entire upper body. That hand then flipped Kagami the finger.
"Don't make me regret this" He whispered, and then disappeared in a flicker of air. I closed my eyes to rest them as I felt at my chakra reserves.
I regretted forgetting to come along with a soldier pill or two. I never used them in training sessions and it had been so long since I went on a mission that it turned out my load out was somewhat lacking in some respects. I still had about a quarter of my reserves left, but that definitely wasn't to the level of being able to do much in the fights unfolding around me. My chakra sensing was shit at distance, but only an idiot would not be able to feel the strong essences of three tailed beasts actively on this single island. One of them was constrained, that was the eight tails. Sending Kagami to Tobirama had been the right choice. Between the two of them, the eight tails was basically done for as a factor in this fight. I wondered what would be done with the creature and the Jinchuriki once it was captured. A trade back to Kumo seemed unlikely. Seemed very unlikely.
The six tails on the other hand was still going strong. As strong as it could while being harried by the man who would one day go on to earn the title, 'Shinobi no Kami' and his three prodigal students. It would fall in no time. The true danger remained the three tails. The three tails and the Mizukage were at the opposite end of the island, wrecking havoc.
I could feel the Uzukage's chakra from that direction as well. He was the one fighting against the Mizukage while Danzo and the jounin force we'd brought fought off the Three Tails jinchuriki. From the level of the chakra I could feel, that particular jinchuriki wasn't capable of a full transformation. A small mercy.
I felt the skin around my skull finally finish knitting itself together with a sigh of relief. Medical ninjutsu was coming in clutch. I avoided healing the burns on my face in favour of the ones on my palms. The facial burns were not likely to affect my ability to fight. The damage was cosmetic, and so could be ignored for the time being.
Done with that, I gave a second look at my knee. It was really something that was beyond my ability to heal. Reactivating my byakugan, I noted that the bone hadn't even had the decency to shatter into even pieces. Some of them were already digging into the surrounding muscle and flesh. I sighed and numbed that part of my body before commanding the mud to lift me until I was standing close to upright.
I picked up my bow in my right hand and sighed before taking it in my left as well and quickly snapping it in two. I cut off the string from the top half and placed it against the floor to test the makeshift cane. It worked well enough, and so I began the journey to where my Granduncle and Kagami stood. The Eight tails had begun to retreat to the form of its jinchuriki in a twisting rictus of flesh and blood.
One thing I'd noticed about being a byakugan user who lacked the classic Hyuga features was that most people just seemed to ignore the byakugan itself. It was almost like they could not see the bulging veins that took up half of my face. It was the only reason I could think of for this man who had managed to remain alive by faking his death and hiding under his comrade's body to decide that trying to attack me from behind was a good idea.
I'd been content to just let him live with his cowardice, but stupidity was unforgivable. He jumped at me, almost silent if not for the wind whistling through the night air. The ground between us turned into mud and from the mud rose a hand that snatched him by his midsection and then dragged him back in. Jiraiya would surely be excited to see what I'd done with his swamp of the underworld jutsu.
"Shori, what happened to you?" Tobirama asked as I finally finished crossing the distance between us.
"The Raikage put in much more of a fight than we saw coming but Kagami-san and I handled it" I turned to the older Uchiha who gave me a wink with his single open eye.
He nodded but kept his eyes on my knee.
"I assume that the reason you haven't healed it is because the injury is one that resists quick resolution" he said, and I nodded at his words.
"Saru and his team have the Six-tails handled. That fight should conclude itself in the next few minutes. We'll go support Danzo against the Mizukage and three tails" He said simply. I nodded at his words.
"Are you still good to fight?"
"My mobility is shot, but I do still have a wide ninjutsu arsenal I'm just saying to crack out" I said in reply.
"Good." He said and then flicked his fingers. A soldier pill shot out from them and flew straight towards my mouth. I wasted no time in catching it and swallowing. I felt it loosen my body's natural restrictions and amplify my chakra production to the point that my chakra swelled to about half of its full capacity.
"Kagami and I will head on over land to pincer the Mizukage. Take the coastal route and confront the Three-tails with that. Your Uzumaki blood means the defenses will ignore you, and you should have an easier time moving over water than land" He said. When I nodded, he said no more words and just body flickered Northwards. Kagami flashed me a smile before doing the same. I hobbled over towards the beach where the sand met the sea and then formed a tiger seal to take hold of the water and use it to carry me into the water.
Granduncle was right. I'd have a much easier time moving through the water than I would moving over land. And even better, I got to freeze and icy cast around my knee to keep it from moving and getting even worse. I allowed the water carry me around the island, moving to where I could sense the Three tails' noxious chakra. When I surfaced, I could just make out the three tails with my byakugan. Around it were a group of Jounin. They were having an easy enough time keeping it distracted and containing its aggression between all seven of them but they hadn't managed to damage it at all. That was what I was here for. I flared my chakra to give them a warning, and I felt no small amount of satisfaction when Danzo looked over to the sea, saw me, and signaled for his people to hightail it out of the way.
I had many things going for me as a shinobi. My taijutsu was immaculate. I couldn't be affected by genjutsu. I had one of the most powerful doujutsu known to man. I had enough chakra to put most jounin to shame. All those were true, but the main thing that set me aside from the rest of shinobikind was what I could do with ninjutsu when I cut loose.
The three tails had become little more than a feral beast as time went one. It was in what the fandom called the Version 2 cloak, the thick red one that made it difficult to see the person underneath. Even worse, it had begun to spawn bones around its form. Three tails languidly swung themselves through the air behind it.
"Suiton; Daibakufu no jutsu" I intoned. The water around me. Metric tonnes of the liquid rose up from the ocean and I smiled as I felt myself riding the immense wave. Whatever Mizu shinobi still remained in the three tails vicinity wasted no time in moving out of the way even as the beast turned to roar at the wave coming towards it. Pathetic, I internally scoffed as I sunk into the wave and forced the water to contain me in a ball to shield me from the impact as the wave crashed against the ground and the Jinchuriki by extension. All the force did little to move the beast, even as it abstained from bracing itself or otherwise even acknowledging the wave as a threat. That was fine. That was only the first half of the jutsu after all.
My fingers contorted between the horse and ram seals twice as I felt the second jutsu lock in place. "Water Release: Wide water prison jutsu" I intoned. All the water that had crashed down around us suddenly rose under my control again and encased the both of us in what was essentially a wide water prison. I had gotten the idea from my memories of how Kisame fought. He was the most dangerous water release user in canon after all, and some of his techniques were just too good to not rip off. Not this one, though. This third one was all mine.
I formed the horse seal again, and this time held it. "Water release: Pressure" I mentally recited from my own separate water prison within the wider water prison that contained us. My chakra leaked out from the water prison and pressed upon the water surrounding us. With only one goal. Amplify the pressure. Where the jinchuriki had been standing, now it was forced to bend to one knee under the pressure of the water. This was the most exhausting jutsu out of the chain I'd planned out in my mind.
I could see its eyes from here. The beast had taken over almost completely at this point. That made it more dangerous, but it also meant I felt no remorse for what I was about to do. I began to concentrate on my palm, gathering the requisite chakra. It had taken months of training the base concepts of this jutsu to get it under control and to a level where using it did not run as much a risk of killing me as it did whoever it was I was trying to kill. Lessons from this jutsu did actually inspire the pressure jutsu I had used earlier. It was why I was able to keep the both of them running at the same time.
If there was still a human in there, it would have felt the danger of the situation and gotten the hell out of dodge. Instead, the beast saw a challenge and wanted to meet it. It raised its head to the sky and began to gather red and black balls of energy. Positive and negative energy I knew. I can't lie, my heart skipped a beat the first time I saw them begin to gather. A tailed beast bomb was far out of the level of the kind of bullshit I was used to dealing with. But that didn't matter now. I was much too tired to care, and perhaps because of my tiredness, I had a plan for dealing with things pop in my head.
I charged my jutsu, smiling and watching the tailed beast bomb as it developed. I analysed it with my byakugan as much as I could. It was an interesting technique a really interesting one.
"Water Release: Arrow of Kami" I mentally announced as I pointed my hands straightforward and fired the lance of pure pressurized water. In the same moment, the Three tails pushed its head down and fired the tailed beast bomb right at me. Both jutsu flew at each other on a collision course and I smiled at the sight while flipping through seals at rapid pace.
Right before the attacks collided, I slammed my hand on the ground. "Kuchiyose no jutsu"
XXXXXXXXXX
He woke up to darkness. That was strange. When had he fallen asleep? Even more confusing, when had his bed become so wet? Or so soft even? He slept on a futon, he knew. His eyes snapped wide open as he realised what he had been doing before waking up. His byakugan came to life in the space between seconds and said eyes rolled to the back of his head as he blanked out.
"Stop screaming, Gaki" He heard come from around him and his mouth shut itself instantly. He was in a whale's mouth. He was in a fucking whale's mouth.
"Good. Now, I can feel your spirit is back nice and strong so come on out let's talk" he heard again and without even a second to brace himself, he found himself shot out of the whale's mouth and into the wider ocean. I formed a horse seal to focus my chakra and breathed out of my nose for a few seconds, creating a bubble around my head that allowed me to breathe freely in the water. The jutsu was both water and wind release and had taken me several months of work to come up with. It had only taken Tobirama an hour to improve it into a version that could actually be usable in combat. I kept the original version active for now though. It took less focus to activate and something told me I'd be needing focus for this conversation that was to come.
"What happened to you?" The Whale asked first of all.
"My injuries?" I asked, even as I began examining my body and realised that I was fully healed. Even my chakra. I was positively brimming with the stuff. It felt like I had just had a full meal after a very relaxing day.
"Yes. I've seen few of your kind, but rarely have I seen one so taken apart" He said, voicing ringing in my head.
"Well, I was fighting in a war, you see"
"War, huh." I could hear the distaste in his voice.
"Yes. A war. They were invading my family's island. The one we've called home for generations. I could not stand aside." I began defensively, but he was already interrupting.
"Yes, there is often no choice but war for your kind. Show me your wars, Gaki." He said.
"Show you?" I was confused now.
"Surely you realize that my words are being ferried directly into your mind. You have memories of your war. Show them to me. Just merely think back to them and I will see what I need" He said, making me freak out for a second about another creature having access to my mind. Of course, that did not last long. If he was asking me to show him, then it meant he couldn't just plunder my mind at will. Besides, I'd been unconscious in his mouth for God knows how long. Whatever he wanted from me, he could easily have already gotten."
"Alright then" I said, acquiescing to the request and doing as he bid.
He was silent for what felt like an eternity before he spoke again.
"I see. An attack of that scale. I apologize, Gaki. You were right-"
"I know I was, now please send me back. I don't know how long I've been gone for" I said to him, cringing at my badly placed interruption as he seemed about to continue but not regretting it. What had happened while I slept?
"I see your haste, Gaki. I understand it. Be gone for now, but do not forget to return to me as soon as able. A summoner must sign the contract, after all" he said.
I nodded, and with a puff I found myself standing in the centre of an apocalypse.
"What the hell?" I wondered, staring all around me. It was nothing but bare rock like the top of the land had been scoured off. A blip in the corner of my vision made me focus all of it into one area.
I could see it. The Eight tails. What was it doing out? I wondered even as I began running towards it. Right before my eyes, the eight tails began to shrink and morph into energy as it was shoved into a body. A very familiar body. Kushina?
I body flickered thrice to cross the distance and when I arrived, it was to a mess. There were people everywhere. Bodies as well. I paid them no attention, turning to focus on the little red haired girl. Tobirama was next to her.
"Granduncle" I shouted as I ran to him.
He looked like he'd aged a decade in the time since I'd last seen him.
"Shori" He gasped back.
In a second, I was next to him as his body slumped down on mine.
"My boy, you're alive?" He asked with a gasp.
"Yes I am" I said, feeling tears ache at my eyes. I knew what I was seeing. The Byakugan did not lie. His chakra was leaving him at a rapid pace.
"Tsunade" I screamed her name. Why was she there crying? Why wasn't she doing something?
"She can't help with this one, Shori." He said with a chuckle that turned into a series of coughs.
"Don't talk" I whispered back, reaching out with the mystic palm trying to stave his death. Trying to quicken the embers of his chakra with my own . Anything.
"I am so proud of you, my boy. I..." The words. Whatever would have been the true last words of the Second Hokage of the Village Hidden in Leaves were lost to the ether as he breathed his last.
"Tsunade" I wanted to say I screamed her name, but it was more of a pitiful cry. She had her hands around Orochimaru as she wept from where she was. I felt myself come undone.
Important Announcement: Changes made to my pa-treon structure mean its now cheaper to read the very next chapter with a lower-tier subscription. I'll be placing a discount on yearly memberships for a week or so to support this
A/N; Did this come out of nowhere? Wait for the next one. As I said earlier, the next chapter comes up next week on Wednesday, or skip the wait and read the next three, along with daily uploads on pa-treon. For the pa-treon, you can remove the hyphen between pa and treon, google it, and then search for my username- Oghenevwogaga. You could copy the link in my bio and remove the spaces before pasting it in your address bar.
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