章節 237: Chapter 5: Battle for a Fox
(In Sadahiko's House)
Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess
We seek it thus, and take to the sky
Ripples form on the water's surface
The wandering soul knows no rest
"LOVELESS, Act 1" And elderly voice commented.
Naruto smirked as he put the book away before looking at the man sitting across from him. "So you remember." Naruto replied.
"Of course I god damn know, I knew the guy who wrote the book. But what's got me annoyed is that you didn't bring Kiko-chan with you." The elderly voice said in aggravation while Naruto poured him a large cup of sake. "Its not very often that I get to see my great-great-granddaughter you know."
Naruto was currently sitting on a green rug cross-legged, with a round wooden table that had an assortment of cups and plates between him and Sadahiko. Said man was also sitting cross-legged and wore a simple dark blue haori over his body that he wore like a cape and black male kimono under it held by a white belt. His face had a light tan to it along with his long light red spiky hair with most of it tied into a ponytail reaching his waist and a mustache and beard. The man had dark purple eyes and a not so many wrinkles as one would expect from someone of his age. A scar went over his right eye and reached his forehead that seemed to bend slightly towards his ears. Going across it in the opposite direction was another scar, one that reached his hair. His arms that stuck out of the kimono's sleeves, looked incredibly fit and muscular, yet lean, instead of being skinny and wrinkly.
"Hey don't get that tone with me hijiji! You said you had something important to tell me and I didn't want to bring Kiko-chan here because she'll get all bored and cranky!" Naruto snapped back at his great-grandfather while pouring himself a cup of sake. The two had been trading insults for the past fifteen minutes while drinking sake. However one could tell that neither felt offended by one another, as it was merely just friendly jabs between relatives.
"Still it be nice if you did bring her you know. I hadn't seen her since she was barely a month old. If you're worried that I reject her because of the circumstances of her birth then you're an idiot Naruto." Sadahiko said jokingly but with kindness in his words.
"I know that. It's just with Konoha and Akatsuki after mine and fur ball's ass right now I rather have her somewhere safe and where we can move quickly just in case." Naruto replied. Currently said fox was taking a nap inside Naruto's mindscape and so was oblivious to the conversation between the two Uzumaki's.
"That's actually part of the reason why I wanted to meet with you in person." Sadahiko said, suddenly becoming serious. "I'm positive that this Akatsuki's goal is to gather the bijuu and revive the Juubi, for which I fear will be used to create the Infinite Tsukuyomi, the same technique the Hagoromo Otsutsuki's mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki used 1,000 years ago." Sadahiko said.
Naruto blinked and looked a bit worried. "Are you sure? I mean you told me the stories about it and while I don't doubt them you can't possible believe that-"
"I do" Sadahiko said, interrupting Naruto. "It's the only logical conclusion there is in this case. Furthermore it's something that a person using Madara's name would do if I know my former student."
"So you don't believe that this mask bastard I saw in my parent's memories is Madara?" Naruto asked.
"From hearing how he was able to somehow make himself intangible, I do not believe that the person who released Kurama-dono nineteen years ago is Madara. But I do believe that he is a subordinate of his." Sadahiko answered.
Naruto looked confused. "Well pushing the part about him being Madara's subordinate aside, how does his ability to be intangible proves he's a phony?" Naruto asked.
Sadahiko sighed. "As I told you before the Mangekyo Sharingan as well as the Eternal Version offers the wielder three new powers: Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu and Susanoo. However a fourth ability can be granted to each eye individually only that certain eye can do. One such example is that unique genjutsu the Uchiha called Shusui Uchiha could use. But there is another option too: one of the three techniques could be increased, becoming greater than the other two." Sadahiko said.
"Greater then the other two? As in more flexible?" Naruto asked.
"That's one way to put it." Sadahiko replied. "Madara's eyes gave him a powerful Susanoo. And though few Uchiha can use that technique I do know for a fact that Madara's was far greater then the others and had a lot more styles to it too. The technique that this mask man can use sounds like a Space-Time ninjutsu focused around the Mangekyo Sharingan. The eye's fourth ability didn't have the consequences of blindness unless it was an augmentation of the first three techniques. However they do come with their own unique side effects like one time uses. Also I know Madara very well, a technique that is very…sneaky, is not his style." Sadahiko finished.
"Well…I guess that covers up the whole 'him not being Madara or not' debate." Naruto said after hearing Sadahiko's explanation. "But what makes you think that he's a subordinate of the real Madara. Unlike you he doesn't have advanced long life?"
"Just call it a hunch…which just shows how awesome I am!" Sadahiko said with a cheeky grin on his face.
"Right…" Naruto replied with a sweat drop on the back of his head. "Anyway what was the other thing you wanted to talk to me about?"
At that Sadahiko became serious again. "I've noticed recently that Hachiro's seal has been weakening the past few months." The elder Uzumaki said grimly.
"What?" Naruto asked in shock. "H-how, the seal is in the very center of the island, under your protection! Are you saying that someone managed to sneak in and weaken it?" The young Uzumaki asked worriedly.
"No, no one has managed to get on the island without me knowing it, especially towards the center." Sadahiko said to Naruto. "I fear this may be the work of Hachiro himself. Even though his soul is sealed in it, doesn't mean he's completely powerless. The seal is only weak enough so that if someone on the outside damaged it, Hachiro's soul could escape and take on a new form. But he can't do anything inside it, except watch what was happening, I made sure of that." Sadahiko explained.
"I still find it incredible that Hachiro was able to create a technique that allowed him to split his soul from his body and use natural energy to create a new one." Naruto said.
"There is much that the Kishin clan were capable of. They were all linked to the planet's ley-lines, and thus could absorb and use natural energy in anyway they saw fit. Hachiro, being a member of the main branch, was exceptionally powerful in that regard, to the point he could do almost anything. He could even manipulate natural energy without having to absorb it, allowing him to control the elemental energies. Though, I would never have imagine that he could manipulate his own soul. I suspect it may be the work of some ancient technique of the Kishin clan." Sadahiko let out a sigh. "If I had killed him earlier he would've been just plain dead. Instead I had to seal both his soul and body, until I can discover a way to stop him. But for now, he's locked up."
"You think other members of the Kishin clan are behind it? I mean, even though they were wiped out like a century ago." Naruto said.
"No I don't think so." Sadahiko replied. "We did a damn good job of making sure that there weren't any survivors. However, I have heard that a group of them had split off long before the genocide and formed a new clan. From what I learned they still possess the ability to absorb natural energy but they can only transform parts or their entire body, calling it Sage Transformation or something. I'm not really sure if they're still around or not since I've been more focus on helping our clan." Sadahiko said. "By the way how are Honoka-chan and the others doing?"
"They're doing fine from last I heard. She's just finished getting most of the harbors on Uzu no Kuni running and another batch of our kin arrived three months ago, several of them elders apparently around Hiruzen's age." Naruto commented as he took a sip of sake. "You should think about visiting them. I'm sure they would be delighted to meet the legendary Sadahiko Uzumaki."
"No I don't think it would be a good idea." Sadahiko said glumly as he stared at his cup of sake. "What right do I have to face my kin when I couldn't even prevent our village from being destroyed back in the Third War? Hell I couldn't even stop that idiot Hashirama from starting the whole damn jinchuuriki idea of his. Even though I told him to just hold down Kurama so we could transport him and the other bijuu to a location where humans couldn't bother them and vice versa."
Naruto was about to say something when suddenly seals around the house began to go off, glowing blue as they did so. "Looks like someone has intruded onto the island." Sadahiko commented as he looked at the seals.
"Konoha" Naruto growled in anger as he stood up, grabbing Sekirei with his left hand. "And judging from the size of several chakra signatures Akatsuki maybe…and I think Orochimaru too."
Soon the ground began to shake, causing dust to move about the house while outside the local animals began to run for cover. "That quake... it would seem that Yujin is engaging them."
(With Yujin, Akatsuki and the Konoha Group)
"Move to the right now!" Jiraiya ordered the others.
The rest of the Konoha team just barely managed to follow that order as a large fist missed them by several inches. However the movement of something so large caused a powerful gust of wind to follow it, nearly dispelling several of Sai's ink birds. But the giant Yujin raised his right hand and shouted, "Yubi no Muchi (Finger Whips)!" And suddenly multiple tendrils shout from each of his fingertips. While the Konoha team managed to dodge several managed to dispel Ino, Shino and Iruka's, causing the three to fall towards the ground far below.
"Hang on!" Sasuke shouted as his summon did a nosedive towards the three. He had to dodge several more tendrils from Yujin, including having to shoot out a fireball to deflect a few, but the Uchiha managed to save the three shinobi and now four people were riding the hawk summon.
"This is the maximum load that I can carry Sasuke-sama." The hawk said to the Uchiha.
"I understand Koshin-san, thank you." Sasuke said to the hawk respectfully.
Yujin tried to hit them again but several small explosions courtesy of Deidara distracted him. However they did little to injure Yujin who just glared at the bomber-nin, focusing his attention on the Akatuski group.
"That didn't even tickle!" Yujin roared as he tried to backhand Deidara. He missed but he destroyed one of the wings of the Iwa Bomber's clay bird. Deidara however jumped off, with another clay bird already ready too go. Trying to stop him Yujin reached outward to grab Deidara and crush him but he was once more stopped from several exploding eggs from Pain's summon (A/N: In the anime episode of Jiraiya's battle with Pain, the Drill-Beaked Bird could lay eggs that exploded). That gave Deidara the chance to in large his bird, this time having a long neck on it.
'Well at least it wasn't bird poop.' Yujin thought to himself as he faced the orange hair man. Pain's Deva Path stared at the titan sized being with an impassive look on his face, his Rinnegan not showing a hint of emotions as his summon flew towards Yujin with his Animal Path and Konan still on.
Back with the Konoha group said people had managed to regroup and were now behind Yujin's gigantic form and flying over the island. "Jiraiya-sama should we engage that being?" Lee asked the Sannin.
"Our priority is retrieving Naruto. I don't think that giant will follow us through the island and right now it's keeping Akatsuki busy and vice versa, giving us a head start." Jiraiya replied.
"True but we'll probably have to face it again when we leave the island." Shikamaru commented with a sigh.
"One thing at a time kid. Let's focus on finding the gaki before worrying about that thing." The Toad Sage ordered as the group flew deeper into the island.
"You're not going anywhere!" Yujin roared as he swung his right arm towards the Konoha group. However even they were too far out of reach for the giant Yujin to grab them. But instead he disconnected his right hand from the arm and like a projectile, made it fly towards the Konoha shinobi.
"Shit incoming!" Kiba yelled as he saw the giant hand fly towards them. The group had just gotten their birds to move, allowing the giant hand to go pass them but the force still caused the ink birds to dispel while Sasuke's summon was sent back to the summoning world. Fortunately they weren't too high up in the sky so the Konoha shinobi were able to make a decent crash landing, adding chakra to their hands and feet to grab onto branches or whatever else they could grab to slow their fall.
While Yujin's attention was on the Konoha shinobi, Pain's Deva Path used that moment to attack the giant directly. The leader of Akatsuki had just neared Yujin's face when said giant turned his gaze back towards him. Moving quickly Pain raised both hands towards Yujin and said two words. "Shinra Tensei!"
Suddenly an invisible force of gravity struck Yujin hard in the face, causing the giant to make a pain expression as he felt himself being pushed backwards. But just as it appeared that he would fall Yujin said, "The saying 'the bigger they are the harder they fall'" He began before lunging his head forward and smacking the Deva Path fully. "Does not apply to me! Because I am SUPER!" Yujin yelled the last word dramatically.
Pain's Deva Path began flying backwards into the ocean before it was suddenly poof away by Animal Path and reappeared on his bird summon. Yujin narrowed his eyes at this. 'Though he is an imposter, this person is very well skilled with Hagoromo-sama and Hamura-sama's techniques and their dojutsu. And I can already figure out that this person has four other bodies that can each use a different path of the Rinnegan. That means the only people who can fight him with a chance of winning our basically myself, Naruto-sama and Sadahiko-sama.' Yujin thought as a new right hand grew out of his arm.
From atop his ride and far away from the battle, Obito narrowed his eyes behind his mask as he watched Yujin new hand grow. 'It is indeed an impressive ability that person possess…Molecular Manipulation the ability to manipulate ones own molecules and what's more manipulate the molecules of objects that come in contact with the user. And centuries of using that ability would make anyone formidable. As expected of the fable Yujin no Kobunsho (Yujin the Archivist). A being created from the Rikudou Sennin's Banbutsu Sozo no Jutsu (Creation of All Things Technique) using the remaining chakra of the Juubi and the father of all body-type Kekkei Genkai.' Obito thought.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" Animal Path said as it finished the hand seal. A poof of smoke later a three headed dog with the Rinnegan appeared and jumped onto Yujin's left arm, growling. Yujin tried to shake the beast off but the dog had a good grip as it ran up towards the giant's face. "Get the hell off me you dumb mutt I'm not interested in puppies!" Yujin yelled as he slammed his left hand on top of the dog, squishing it…or so he thought. A few seconds after the hand made contact one of the dog's heads split off into a single body. Now the two-headed dog was on Yujin's left arm while the single-head dog continued towards his head. "Zofuku Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Amplification Summoning Technique)?" Yujin said in shock as he kept trying to shake the dogs off. But every time he hit them they would just divide again. By now he had a total of nine dogs running over his body, biting and clawing whenever they could. Yujin was so distracted by them that he didn't see a large clay bird flying towards his head. The moment he did see it the projectile was already near his widened eyes.
"Katsu!" Deidara cried from a top of his clay bird. The other large clay bird exploded right in front of Yujin, completely engulfing his face. While Yujin's body went limp the dogs all over his body poof away as it crashed into the water. "Well that guy wasn't so tough." Deidara smirked as he looked at the giant corpse.
"As expected of Deidara-senpai!" Tobi commented but inwardly he was thinking, 'There's no way Yujin would be killed by something so simple. Something's not right but for now we can focus on capturing the Uzumaki brat.'
"We continue forward and locate the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. If you spot any members of the Konoha group, kill them." Pain ordered as his summons began to fly once more, with Itachi and Kisame behind them.
As the Akatsuki group flew towards the island, none of them bothered to notice that Yujin's 'body' was turning into water before merging with the ocean. Nor did they notice a small human size lump appearing in the water heading towards the shore. Once reaching the closest sandy beach the lump reformed into Yujin, back to his normal size including his cloak. Letting out a sigh Yujin cracked his neck. "Damn that's what I called a close shave…just glad that none of those mutts bit me in the groin. Fixing it hurts as hell." He said as he began forming a quick hand seal. Suddenly two Yujin clones came out of the ground before the original. "Alright you go and check on Kiko-sama and make sure that the security is working." Yujin said to the first clone before shifting his gaze at the second clone. "And you inform Sadahiko-sama of the situation. I shall search for Naruto-sama."
Both clones nodded before hurrying off, one merging back into the ground while the other vanished into thin air. "Now then" The original Yujin said as he started walking. "Time to go hunting." And he too soon took off into the island.
(Elsewhere on the Island)
"It seems that we're in luck Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto said as he finished watching the battle between Yujin and Akatsuki. "Akatsuki and Konoha drew the attention of the island's defender away from us." The silver haired glass wearing man said.
When he got no reply from his master Kabuto turned to look at Orochimaru. Said man was standing on the beach where the boat they took was anchored, and looking at the island's forest. "Orochimaru-sama?"
The Snake Sannin was silent for a few more seconds before finally turning to face Kabuto. "Ah my apologies Kabuto-kun. I was just taking a look at the sights. I have to admit that the appearance and the wildlife on this island are quite impressive, a fitting place to be called Senso no Konshima (Island of the War Gods)." Orochimaru said when he spotted a very large bear passing through the trees. It was looking at them curiously before deciding not to bother and headed off. The Sanin smirked and then turned his attention towards a girl in her teens that had red eyes, wore glasses and had red spiky hair that went halfway down her back. She wore a purple long sleeve vest, short black pants and shinobi sandals that reached her knees. "Tell me Karin-chan how many chakra signatures do you sense?"
Karin closed her eyes for a moment, sensing the chakra signatures on the island. "I sensed several chakra signatures clustered together." She began. "Most of them are chunin level with a few jonin level that are between high and mid level and one Kage level signature."
"That must be the Konoha team." Kabuto said as he walked towards Orochimaru. Behind him was a tall young man with short spiky orange hair and wore a simple short sleeve white shirt and grey shorts.
"I also sense a small group of Kage chakra signatures, one greater then the others." Karin continued. "Along with that I sense two more Kage chakra signatures but separated from the others. One of the two is larger, perhaps even bijuu level and-" She gasped, cutting off her own sentence. A look of surprise and fear appeared on face. "I sense two other chakra sources, far bigger then the others that the difference is clear as heaven and earth. These two are bijuu level maybe even greater! One is old but very bright and clear and the other one…" Karin paused again as a shiver went up her spine. "Feels bound for some reason but still feels sinister and dark." She finished before finally taking in deep breaths to calm herself.
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, slightly curious about the two large chakra signatures Karin mentioned. He turned his attention towards Jugo, who was busy staring at a bird that had landed on his arm. The Snake Sannin couldn't help but noticed that the usually rampaging young man had been very calm lately ever since they arrived to the island. "Jugo-kun, are you perhaps feeling anything? Or are you're friends telling you something?" Orochimaru asked.
Jugo was silent for a moment, listening to the bird's chirping. Finally the bird flew off as the orange haired man looked at the Snake Sannin. "They're saying that several invaders have gathered here on the island and that we should avoid the center of the island for the sake of our sanity."
"What does that mean?" Kabuto asked, raising an eyebrow at the comment.
"I'm not sure they didn't go into details." Jugo said before adding. "But they did say that the island's creators are still on this island and if we value our lives we should avoid the island's center at all cost."
Orochimaru's eyes widened upon hearing that. If what he heard were true, then the birds were basically 'telling' Jugo that both Hachiro and Sadahiko were still alive and were on this island. The idea that two powerful beings from over a hundred years ago being alive was…intriguing to say the least for the Snake Sannin.
"Interesting" Orochimaru murmured as he looked ahead at the forest before he began walking towards it. "First let us go greet the Konoha shinobi and our missing jinchuuriki." He said as he entered the forest, followed by Kabuto, Jugo and a reluctant Karin.
(With the Konoha Group)
The Konoha-nins were still recuperating after the unexpected fall from the sky courtesy of Yujin's hand. They had been lucky that the trees were very high up and had many branches for them to grab on/cushion their fall otherwise they would've been a lot worse off. Currently they were regrouping since they were currently in unfamiliar territory and most likely hostile too.
"I assume that everyone is still in one piece?" Jiraiya asked as he looked at everyone. No one had any serious injuries, a few scrapes here and there along with twigs and sticks stuck to their clothing but nothing terrible.
"We were fortunate that the fist hadn't hit us directly. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation." Yugao muttered as she shifted the katana, originally belonging to her late lover Hayate, on her back.
"How do we do this, Jiraiya-sama?" Shizune asked the Toad Sage after finishing checking her medical equipment.
"We should split into groups in order to cover more ground." Sai suggested. He was hoping that by doing that it would be easier for him to get away from the others and begin his real mission.
"Bad idea inky." Anko commented. "We're in an unknown area and our target probably knows it better. Also we have a group of S-rank missing-nin right behind us. Splitting into small groups will just makes things difficult for us and probably easy pickings for Akatsuki." The Snake Mistress said.
"Anko's right." Jiraiya said much to Sai's discourage. "We'll stick together so that way in case we run into Akatsuki we have a better chance of fighting them. But remember if something is to happen to Kakashi or I you're all to fall back immediately, this isn't the time for heroics."
Suddenly Kiba and Akamaru picked up an odd sound thanks to their superior hearing. Address the others Kiba asked, "Hey doesn't anyone else hear a whirling sound?"
Before anyone could reply a man-size tornado appeared, smashing and ripping through the trees as it headed straight for the Konoha team. The shinobi just barely managed to jump out of the way of the tornado, scattering and landing on rocks, the ground or branches. The last two to jump away were Neji and Choji but they also were the ones that saw something within the spinning vortex of sharp wind: A black coat person wearing a hood over their face. Said person extended his hands towards them. Once they were just inches from the two Konoha-nins, the hooded man murmured one word. "Kushu (Air Strike)" And then Neji and Choji were struck by multiple invisible small blades of wind, cutting their bodies and sending them flying backwards, crashing into trees. Neji's impact left a small dent in the tree he hit while Choji created a man size hole in his. Sasuke instantly recognized the attire the hooded man was wearing but the others did not make the connection yet as they watched their friends being injured.
"Neji-niisan! Choji-kun!" Hinata shouted in horror as she watched the two flying backwards.
"Bastard!" Tenten yelled as she unrolled a scroll and fired a barrage of kunai at the hooded man.
"Tenten no!" Sasuke shouted. However as the barrage of weapons went flying the hooded man disappeared and then reappeared on a high branch before the Konoha group. His hood flying off thus revealing his tan face, spiky red hair, blue eyes and whisker marks on his cheeks as he glared at the intruders from Konoha.
"…Naruto!" Kiba shouted, being the first to register the attacker's identity. It took the others a few seconds to comprehend that and a few more seconds for them to take in his features. A few of the women couldn't help but blush a little seeing how handsome Naruto had become.
Naruto said nothing at first as he stared at his former comrades. He had to admit that they had gotten better if they could all a dodge his Tatsumaki Fudo (Tornado Tunnel) pretty easily, well most of them that is. "I have to admit I was suspecting a lot of things but you weren't one of them Iruka-sensei." Naruto said seriously as he looked at the Chunin Instructor.
"I was sent to see if I could convince you to come back peacefully." Iruka stated with a pleading look in his eyes.
"I think it should be obvious by now that I have no intention of going back to that rotting village." Naruto replied venomously. "Those assholes had thirteen years to make up for their mistakes and blew it from the very beginning. And I won't be going back just because you people don't want to lose your precious weapon."
"Now Naruto none of us-" Jiraiya tried to explain but was cut off.
"Don't try to fucking sweeten it toad!" Naruto roared at the Toad Sage. "And I don't want to hear a peep out of you, you worthless excuse of a godfather! Or should I say former godfather?"
"How did you know that?" Jiraiya asked, genuinely surprise.
"You be surprised by how much I've learned these past few years." Naruto commented with his arms crossed. "Furthermore you people are on sacred land of the Uzumaki Clan and thus you must leave now!"
"I don't really think the clan can claim this place if they're extinct." Kiba commented. That was a bad move as the Inuzuka suddenly kneeled over in pain. Kiba was clutching his left leg, which had a hole in it, courtesy of one of Naruto's Kuki Yubi (Air Finger).
"Watch your mouth mutt, I'm still here." Naruto growled in barely restrained anger. "Now since I rather not have this getting any worse as it is I'll give you guys the chance to leave…and never search for me again. You can tell baa-chan that for me." The Uzumaki said.
"Naruto-kun, please be reasonable! Akatsuki is here on this island and is after you. Come back to Konoha where you can be safe!" Shizune pleaded to her little brother figure while helping Ino and Sakura heal Choji and Neji.
"The Ichiraku and Konohamaru also miss you." Iruka added hoping to help the blond see reason.
"Shizune-neechan, Iruka-sensei, I'm sorry but I will not return. Teuchi-ji and Ayame-neechan have my eternal gratitude for everything they've done fore me over the years. And I do miss Konohamaru and his friends however…" Naruto said as he began the flex his fingers for the coming battle. "I have too much to lose in going back. I won't kill you (though I might castrate Jiraiya and Kakashi) but I won't hold back either."
"Naruto-kun…" Hinata murmured sadly, tears threatening to come out.
"I guess there is no way we can convince you huh?" Jiraiya said glumly.
Naruto glared at the man, causing Jiraiya to shrink a little under it. "No"
With that said Naruto acted first, forming a fast set of hand seals. "Futon: Tsukiaki (Wind Release: Moon Fall)!" And waving his arms outwards Naruto launched a barrage of spinning crescent shaped wind projectiles towards the Konoha-nins. The shinobi managed to jump out of the way with Sakura and Ino carrying Neji and Choji respectively. The wind projectiles shattered the ground easily while a few left very deep cuts in nearby trees.
Shikamaru had landed on a tree branch further away from the other. "Damn that was some attack. If we hadn't move we would've been torn to shreds." Shikamaru muttered. "This is troublesome, I'm not sure how we can beat Naruto without killing him."
Before Shikamaru could think of a move to make Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him with lightning speed. Moving too quick for the Nara to react Naruto placed his hands on both sides of Shikamaru's head, fingers bent and pointing at the cheeks.
"Denpa (Electric Wave)" Naruto murmured and released electricity from the tips of his fingers that struck Shikamaru instantly. Shikmaru let out a scream of pain for a moment before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he went unconscious, now falling down to the ground. "That takes care of one of the more troubling ones." Naruto said as he watched Shikamaru hit the ground.
"Shikamaru!" Ino cried as she watched her other teammate go down. Suddenly a shadow engulfed her and Choji, whom she was carrying, causing the blonde kunoichi to turn around. Coming down upon her was Yujin, with an enlarged right arm that was reared back and ready to pound her. But thankfully Gai and Lee appeared and the sensei and student kicked Yujin's large hand, knocking it off course. Yujin of course managed to recover and perform a backwards flip and landed besides Naruto.
"Mind telling me how the hell you let both Konoha and Akatsuki get passed you?" Naruto asked Yujin, a mildly annoyed tone in his voice.
"My apologies Naruto-sama. I had underestimated them. Plus it's difficult for me to use my other techniques when I'm in my full Kyojin (Titan) form." Yujin replied.
Naruto let out a sigh before looking back at the Konoha shinobi. They had begun to gather on the ground with Ino, Shizune and Sakura tending to Shikamaru, Choji and Neji. "If it were just these guys then it would be a lot easier. Anyway I'll go deal with Akatsuki while you handle these guys, okay?" Naruto said.
"Understood Naruto-sama. Also my clone that went to check up on Kiko-sama has informed me that Guren-dono left to see if she could be of assistance. She is currently moving through the trees with my clone." Yujin said.
"Really?" Naruto asked, getting a nod from Yujin making Naruto sigh. "I told her that she didn't have to but I guess it can't be helped. Anyway tell her that she can come here to help you. It would be tricky for me to fight Akatsuki if I had to watch someone else's back. Also the goal is to seriously maim/incapacitate, not kill." Naruto ordered. "Now then, give these guys a distraction so they don't chase after me okay?" Naruto asked as he looked back at the Konoha group. 'I'll probably have to recall Sayoku and Uyoku in order to combat the Rinnegan and the other Akatsuki members. I can always summon Kimi, Kudari and Kenri to watch over Kiko-chan. She misses those fox kits anyway. Plus I don't know if Sadahiko-hiji will get involved since he'd only come if it were getting too hectic. Plus he doesn't like fighting clansmen." Naruto thought before Yujin's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"Got it" Yujin said as he jumped off the tree branch and landed safely on the ground before the Konoha shinobi. Kiba was the first to react.
"Hey you're the giant bastard we saw at shore!" The Inuzuka shouted as he and the other able bodies took up fighting stances.
"So he's an ally of Naruto's? That will make things more complicated." Kakashi said when he saw Naruto and Yujin. However right now he was keeping his eyes on Naruto, wanting to see what his former student would do right now.
"Then perhaps that will help convince to give up and leave." Yujin remarked as he got down. When his fingers touched the ground they began to merge with the earth. Yujin then made a gripping motion, as if he was grabbing the ground itself. "In the meantime I'll have to give you all a butt whooping! Chijoha (Ground Wave)!"
Then, as if shaking a blanket or a bed sheet, Yujin picked the ground up and gave it a strong shake. The result was creating a large tidal wave of earth heading straight towards the Konoha team. The sudden attack took the shinobi by surprise and they were soon caught up in the wave of earth. The large earth wave scattered the originally large group into several smaller groups: One group and the largest was Jiraiya, Kakashi, Yamato, Sasuke, Yugao, Kiba, Akamaru and Tenten. The second group was Gai, Lee, Sakura and Anko. The third group was Shizune, Ino, Shino, Asuma, Hinata and Iruka along with the injured Neji, Choji and Shikamaru. And the final group was just Sai. With the group being scattered by Yujin's technique Naruto took this chance to escape and prepare his fight with Akatsuki.
Yujin spotted the closes group, which was Gai's, and made his way towards them. The five shinobi had just begun to recover from that attack when Yujin landed before them. "Well guess I'll kick this party off with you lot." He said.
Back with Jiraiya's group, the shinobi had just finished recovering. "Damn what kind of technique was that?" Tenten asked no one in particular.
"A Doton jutsu perhaps." Yugao suggested as she flexed her right shoulder.
"Whatever it was now is not the time to think about it." Jiraiya ordered. "Kiba can you catch Naruto's scent?"
Kiba was silent for a moment, sniffing the air along with Akamaru. Finally after a few seconds they broke the silence. "I got him but he's moving away from here, he might be trying to escape." The Inuzuka commented.
"Or heading to engage Akatsuki." Kakashi said. "We need to hurry."
"Agreed, let's move!" Jiraiya ordered.
"Wait what about the others?" Tenten asked.
"We can't search for them right now. If we lose Naruto then this mission is a failure." Jiraiya retorted.
"I can actually smell the others since Hinata and Shino are with them." Kiba said since he was use to his teammate's scents by now. "They're together with some of the others so they should be fine if they stick together. But I can't get Sai's scent at all."
That caused Kakashi and Jiraiya to cast worry looks at one another before pushing it aside. "We'll regroup with them later. Right now we have to catch up to Naruto before he gets away or Akatsuki gets him now move!" Jiraiya shouted, already heading into the trees, the others right behind him.
(With Yujin vs. Gai, Lee, Sakura and Anko)
"Yehaw!" Yujin cried as he stretched his left fist at Sakura. The pink haired kunoichi managed to dodge it before countering with a barrage of kunai at the green-skin man. However Yujin merely deflected them with a swing of his arm, not even injured by the blade projectiles. "Ha! I've seen papers that were pointier then those!" Yujin laughed.
"Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)!" A female voice said from behind Yujin. Said person spun around to see Anko raising her left arm and suddenly several snakes came out of her sleeves. All of them were heading straight towards Yujin with fangs ready to strike.
But Yujin merely raised his right arm again and allowed the snakes to sink their fangs into it. Not even flinching, Yujin grabbed one of the snakes and with a strong tug, pulled Anko towards him, flying in the air. "Koka: Tekken (Harden: Iron Fist)" Yujin said as his left arm and hand turned into iron. Then with a powerful swing he delivered a strong punch in Anko's stomach. This caused the Snake Mistress to cough out blood before being sent backwards by the force of the punch.
As Yujin removed the snakes from his arm, killing them in the process, he felt his right arm going a bit stiff. "Poison?" He muttered.
"Correct" Gai said as he reappeared before Yujin while Lee had managed to grab Anko before she took any more damage. "Anko is an expert at poison and they're very deadly. Since you're a friend of Naruto-kun's it would be un-youthful to let you die. Surrender now and we shall give you the antidote." Gai said.
Yujin just blinked at the man before returning his attention back to his arm. With a quick squeeze of the fist the poison began to seep back out through the holes left by the snake's fangs. Gai watched with dumbfounded shock as the holes closed once all the poison was removed. "Sorry buddy" Yujin started before delivering an extended punch to Gai, sending the Taijutsu master backwards. "But I've been built to be immune to poison…along with some other special features." Yujin said before spinning around and flashing Gai, Lee and Anko his rear. "So you can take that offer and bite my millennia old ass."
"How about a punch to the chin?" Sakura roared, as she appeared before Yujin, ready to deliver a powerful uppercut. With no time to react Sakura's fist met the bottom of Yujin's chin…and sent Yujin's head into the air, neck still attached to it and the body and stretching all the way. "EEHHH!" Sakura shouted in complete shock as she watched Yujin's neck stretch more. She wasn't the only one surprised; Gai, Anko and Lee were also stunned dumb at the sight. Having been trained under Tsunade Senju, the three shinobi had expected Sakura's hit to send Yujin flying in the air, not cause his neck to stretch.
Yujin, head still in the air and neck stretched, merely blinked before looking down at Sakura. "Like I said, I've been built with some unique features." He said before shooting his head down towards Sakura, similar to a headbutt. Sakura had just managed to move out of the way when Yujin's head hit the ground, causing a crater to form with the shockwave hitting Sakura, causing her to skid across the ground several feet away, ending with a grunt.
"What the hell is this guy?" Anko asked while Lee helped her up. The punch Yujin delivered to her had broken a rib or two and knocked the air out of Anko, she was still trying to regain her breathing.
Back with Yujin, said person's neck had begun to shrink until it had returned back to its original form, with Yujin not looking the least bit daze of having it extended or just making contact with the ground. "Still that wasn't a bad punch. I guess Tsunade is even training...whatever you are." Yujin commented at Sakura.
"What the hell do you mean 'whatever I am'?" Sakura asked as she got up, getting into a fighting stance. "Can't you recognize a girl when one's in front of you?" She asked annoyed.
Yujin blinked for a few seconds, taken in Sakura's features before his eyes widened. "Holy crap you're a girl!?" He asked sounding genuinely shocked by the revelation. "What a surprise. For a moment I thought you were a pink haired ape." Yujin said with a comically deadpanned face (A/N: Imagine Shiki's face from One Piece: Strong World).
The other three Konoha shinobi were gaping at the open comment Yujin made, wondering if he had a death wish. Sakura however, began to see red as tick marks formed over her forehead. "SHANNARO!" Sakura roared as she charged towards Yujin blindly, fist raisd.
"Wait Sakura-san stop!" Lee said as he let go of Anko. The young Taijutsu expert knew that Sakura was walking into a trap, with her rage blinding her and all that. But to his and everyone else's surprise when Sakura was close enough she changed positions. Instead of hitting Yujin with a fist to the face, Sakura brought up her right leg and kicked Yujin right in between the legs, at the groin to be exact.
Everyone had gone silent when that happened. Gai and Lee had instinctively covered their groins in fear of getting hit while Anko had a smirk on her face, thinking Sakura had a bit of a sadistic side in her. However that quickly changed when said girl jumped back from Yujin, now hopping around comically. Sakura was clutching her right leg with both hands, groaning in pain all the while. Yujin however didn't even look the least bit faze of having just been hit in the balls. Instead he did something else. "Teppeki Dokkoi (Iron Wall Heave Ho)!" He yelled as he thrust both palms forward, hitting Sakura with an invisible but powerful force that sent the girl flying backwards.
"Sakura-san!" Lee cried in horror as she watched the medic kunoichi land a good fair distance away.
"First: I knew that you were a girl and was just tricking you." Yujin said out loud to no one in particular. "And second: the reason that kick of yours didn't work is simple: I've got balls of steel!" Yujin remarked proudly with his hands on his hips and his chest puffed out. But his gloating was interrupted when Lee and Gai attacked and soon the three were engaged in a two-on-one taijutsu match. Gai and Lee were pretty impressed of how easily Yujin was parrying their attacks. Gai was Konoha's best Taijutsu master while Lee, his apprentice, was almost near his level. So to see someone able to defend himself with ease was quite a sight.
Finally Yujin saw an opening; grabbing Gai by the arm, Yujin threw him to the side before delivering a kick to Lee's chest, causing the chunin to staggered backwards. However before Lee could recover Yujin launched another attack. "Dangan Ippatsu (Bullet One Shot)!" And his right fist shot forward, hitting Lee right in the face sending the chunin crashing into a tree. "Now then where is the other bushy brow?" Yujin asked as he looked around for Gai.
"Konoha Senpu (Leaf Whirlwind)!" Yujin's eyes widened as he just raised his arms in time to form a defensive X in front of his face, stopping Gai's kick. The two were now locked in a stalemate, with Gai trying to push Yujin back with his leg while Yujin tried to hold Gai back. After a few seconds it looked like Gai was overpowering Yujin, whose knees began to bend.
"What a powerful kick..." Yujin murmured as he was still holding the leg in place. "I should be strong but this kick…I'm going to fall…falling…falling…" Yujin repeated as his resistance began to weaken.
Just as it seem that Gai was about to win Yujin suddenly pushed forward, sending Gai into the air. "GONNA NOT!" Yujin cried as Gai did a backwards flip in the air before landing, just as Yujin followed up with a loud, "YEHAW!" With his hands in the air forming the victory sign with his fingers.
"Eh! You weren't going to fall? You sure fooled me!" Gai exclaimed in shock as he watched Yujin standing tall.
Yujin turned to look at Gai. "Hmph you're pretty energetic I'll admit but it seems like you need some lesson in manners. So in that case…" Yujin said before disappearing.
Gai's eyes widened seeing his target disappear before reappearing right in front of him. Yujin's had his arms cross and his fingers stretched out, needles forming from the tips. "Bunshi Sosa Hijutsu: Kijin Raishin (Molecular Manipulation Secret Art: Demon Blade Lightning Needles)!" Yujin cried before delivering a barrage of stabs into Gai's body, mainly the sides of his chest, thighs and arms.
Gai instantly felt his body freeze up, not moving no matter how hard he tried. "Is this some kind of paralyzing technique?" Gai thought to himself.
"Seems like you recognized what happened." Yujin said as his left eye widened. "Shibo Bakuhatsu (Death Shot Blast)!" He cried before snapping his left eye shut. Suddenly an invisible force zoomed right towards Gai from the wink, hitting the Taijutsu master dead on. It caused an explosion that sent Gai back several feet. This time Yujin widened his right eye. "Jigoku Bakuhatsu (Hell Shot Blast)!" And again he snapped his right eye shut, firing another invisible force from the wink. When this hit Gai it created a powerful shockwave that once more sent him back, with Gai coughing up blood. And finally Yujin widened both eyes. "And Ginga Bakuhatsu (Galaxy Shot Blast)!" Yujin snapped both eyes shut and a few seconds later Gai was hit by numerous explosions and shockwaves, sending the man high into the air before landing back on the ground, forming a small crater. Gai's body had numerous burnt marks on it and he was twitching a lot too.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!" Anko shouted from behind Yujin. The Snake Mistress fired a large fireball at Yujin, who was immediately engulfed by the flames. Anko was pretty sure that something like that wouldn't kill him so she quickly made her way towards Gai to check on the Taijutsu master's conditions. However just before she could reach him a hand shout out of the flames and wrapped around her body, squeezing Anko's breasts and her body as well.
"Ugh!" Anko managed to groan as she looked towards the source of where the hand came from, expecting to see Yujin walk out of the flames. But to her surprise she saw that the hand itself had come out of the fire itself, with said flames reforming into Yujin, who was completely unharmed.
"Just to let you know Hebi-chan, I'm not a pervert so I really take no comfort and holding you in such a way." Yujin stated seriously as the smoke from the flames reformed into his cloak. "But I can't really take any chances of holding back either. I won't kill you but I'll have to roughen you up a bit."
"Not on my watch!" Sakura shouted as she came down in between Yujin and Anko a tanto in her hand. With a strong swing Sakura cut Yujin's arm off right in the middle, freeing Anko. Yujin however barely looked concern of losing an arm or even in pain. In fact he just began growing a new arm to replace the one lost. While that was happening Sakura and Lee landed beside Anko and Gai, the former untangling herself from Yujin's dismembered arm.
"Sakura-san is Gai-sensei okay?" Lee asked worriedly as he looked at the twitching form of his sensei.
The pink hair kunoichi quickly went to check Gai. She ran a diagnostic jutsu, her hands glowing green, and she managed to stop Gai's twitching. "He's okay but unconscious and he took a serious beating from that guy. I need to go somewhere safe so I can heal him." Sakura reported.
"I'll take him to Shizune-chan." Anko said, surprising Sakura. "You two should realize now that out of the three of us, I'm at a bigger disadvantage of fighting this guy." She said as she looked at Yujin, who was almost done reforming his arm. "This guy is immune to poisoning and it doesn't seem like ninjutsu will work on him. The best chance we have is Taijutsu, which you two are more skilled then even me."
Sakura had to admit that what Anko said made sense. "Okay Lee and I will hold him off while you find Shizune-senpai." Sakura said with Lee nodding in agreement.
Anko returned the nod and then put Gai's arm over her shoulder before taking off into the trees. Yujin had just finished his new arm before he looked at the two remaining shinobis. "So it's just going to be you two huh?" Yujin asked as he stared at Sakura and Lee. "You sure you two can handle me?"
"You got in some good shots bastard but this time we're ready." Sakura said as she got into a fighting stance. "We won't be falling for any of your tricks."
"Yosh!" Lee said in agreement. "While you may be a friend of Naruto-kun's I will hold nothing back against someone who uses un-youthful tactics, you green-skinned person!" Lee said before freezing along with Sakura when Yujin began radiating killing intent.
You see Yujin was well aware of his unique skin color. And while the fault lied with him for having done something over a thousand years ago, he was still very sensitive about the color of his skin. So when Lee called him a green-skinned person, it set something off inside Yujin. "Are you talking to me?" He asked slowly while his body slowly began getting bigger.
Lee blinked, confused. "Eh?" He said in response.
"Are you talking to me?" Yujin asked again. This time he was noticeable bigger, his cloak tearing off, revealing his increased muscles and dark blue pants and black shinobi sandals.
"Um Lee, maybe you shouldn't have called him green." Sakura said nervously as she and Lee watched Yujin become bigger and more muscular.
"Are you talking to me!?" Yujin roared again. This time he was about twice the size of Sakura and Lee. His muscles had gotten bigger too and a lot bulkier while his voice got deeper too as he glared down at the two.
"This won't end well…" Lee and Sakura thought as they stared at Yujin's new form.
"THEY CALL ME, MISTER GREEN!" Yujin said before letting out a war cry and charged towards the two surprised and freaked out chunins.
(With Sai)
The ink user had to admit that it was easier then he imagined, getting away from the rest of the Konoha group. The technique that the green-skin man had used had effectively separated everyone from one another and it was just a stroke of luck that he had ended up by himself. He wasn't worried about rejoining the others once he was done, though depending on the outcome he wouldn't have too.
Sai was going in a straight direction, having seen the location where his target would most likely be when he was on his ink bird moments ago. Now all he had to do was get there quickly. He could hear the sounds of battle from afar but he couldn't tell who was fighting whom and he didn't want to take the chance of running into an enemy.
A few minutes later Sai stopped at a tree branch to look at a clearing before him…or what was on it. Before him in the middle of the forest was a giant fortress that had once been the now extinct Sora no Kuni (Sky Country). It looked exactly like the pictures Sai had seen in the textbooks back in Konoha. However there were some slight differences, a notable one being that the Uzumaki clan symbol had been etched in several places on the floating fortress. However Sai's attention was soon drawn to several figures down below, standing before what he assumed was an entrance into the fortress.
There were three people total, plus two creatures. One of the people Sai recognized as Kiko Uzumaki, Naruto's clone. The two others were males and much older too. The youngest one appeared to be around fourteen and fifteen, slightly tan skin, magenta eyes and long pale-green hair. He wore a male kimono that was jade-green on the inside and grey outside with cadet-blue pants with bandages down to ankles that ended at dark brown shinobi sandals. Tied around his right hip was a shuriken holster while he had a hip pouch over his lower back. The other man was much older, appearing in his mid thirties to early forties. He was very muscular and had slightly fair skin along with combed brown hair that ended at his neck along with pale green eyes with what almost looked like gills underneath them. The man was also very muscular and wore a sleeveless brown shirt under a sleeveless grey vest that was unzipped with white bandages wrapped around his forearms. The man also had matching pants with bandages wrapped around his ankles and had brown brown shinobi sandals.
However it was the last two that had Sai concerned, as they were clearly not human and looked more like giant ogres. Those two were clearly the largest amongst the five, appearing to be twice the size of a full grown human. Sai noted that both appeared to be very similar in terms of physical appearance, except one was red and the other was blue but both had white striped markings over their bodies and black hands and feet and spiked tails. The blue one was muscular and had a large horn in the middle of its forehead, two downward pointing tusks and what looked like five eye sockets in the form of a star, an eye in each one. It had sharp claws while carrying a shield in its left hand. The red one was similar to the blue one being large and muscular, but it had two horns on its forehead, two upward pointing tusks, sharp claws, a single large eye socket with one eye in it and carried a large battle axe in its right hand. (A/N: Basically they're Zenki and Goki from Shaman King).
The two ogres bowed to Kiko before vanishing from their spot. Once he was sure that they were gone Sai jumped down into the clearing, right before the three people, an emotionless look on his face. Surprised of Sai's sudden arrival, the two men quickly got up and into fighting stances. However Kiko just blinked as she stared at Sai for several seconds before an ear-splitting grin appeared over her face. "Uncle Sai!" She squealed as she tackled hug said person.
Sai's expressionless face disappeared, replace by a small smile as he hugged the little girl back. "Hello there Kiko-chan, its good to see you too. It's been a year since we last met right?" Sai said.
"Yeah!" Kiko said as she untangled from Sai. "Daddy's not here right now though."
"That's okay I'll just wait for him with you if that's okay." Sai said thinking that it would be less wise to go back to Konoha now that he had made it this far already.
"Sure! And you can come inside, I want to show you my pictures I made!" Kiko said cheerfully before grabbing Sai by the hand. Not even given him a chance to speak the little girl began pulling him into the fortress, followed by a curious Yukimaru and Gozu.
(With the Akatsuki Group)
"This island is a lot larger then what we saw at the shore." Itachi commented as he and his group continued flying over the island, looking for signs of the jinchuuriki. They had remained as a group under Pain's orders. The real Pain, Nagato, had already stationed himself in a good location, one of the tallest trees, in order to control his Paths.
"Ooh!" Tobi said in awe as he saw the explosions from the results of Yujin's battle with some of the Konoha Shinobi. "Looks like something interesting are happening over there." He exclaimed excitedly.
"I do not detect the jinchuuriki's chakra over there though." Itachi said in response.
"Neither am I, meaning he might be hiding his chakra right now." Pain replied. "However I'm sensing several Konoha shinobi chakra sources heading towards us."
Kisame was about to say something when he suddenly noticed that it gotten a bit brighter in the sky. Looking up along with the rest of the Akatsuki group, they were all surprise to see Naruto in the air above him. Around him were several human-size purple arrow shaped projectiles.
"Onmyoton: Seiten Yajirushi (Yin-Yang Release: Star Heaven Arrows)!" Naruto said before launching the multiple arrows down at the group of missing-nin. The Akatsuki barely had anytime to react as the arrows impaled their flyers and then exploded. Deidara and Tobi had managed to jump off their clay birds before they exploded. Pain's summon was quickly sent back to the Summoning World while Animal Path and Deva Path along with Konan successfully got out of the way. Itachi's crow took less damage then the others, with an injury to the left wing and was sent back to the summoning world, with Itachi and Kisame landing on some nearby tree branches. While none of them were seriously injured, they had all been separated from one another too.
After watching the results of his technique Naruto made his way down to the ground, landing before Pain's two Paths and Konan. Naruto had a stern look in his eyes as he stared at Pain's impassive look. With Konan, though she remained calm she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. She could feel the large amount of chakra that Naruto was leaking out and to her shock it was on the same level as Nagato's. And though she wasn't a sensor Konan knew that it wasn't the Kyuubi's chakra, meaning it was entirely Naruto's. "And if he also mastered the Kyuubi's chakra then even Nagato will be hard pressed to fight." Konan thought.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Naruto spoke. "So you're the leader of Akatsuki?" He asked.
"I am Pain. That is all you need to know." Pain replied emotionlessly.
"I also know that you're real name is Nagato." Naruto said, actually surprising both Pain and Konan. "And that you're an Uzumaki too."
"How does he…?" Konan murmured but was cut off by Pain.
"How do you know of this?" Pain said, a bit of aggravation in his voice.
"Kind of easy really: One there is no other explanation of how you got pass the barrier, which only allows those with Uzumaki blood to pass through. Two you're chakra signature is just like mine." Naruto replied. "Besides why do you want to know anyway? After all you're just here to capture me right?" Naruto asked, which seemed to annoy Pain. "Or did you originally come here hoping for answers about say…the reason why your mother wasn't in Uzushio?"
Deva Path's eyes narrowed while Animal Path clapped its hands together. Soon four smokes appeared beside them, revealing three more orange hair men plus one bald with Akatsuki cloaks, piercings over their bodies and the Rinnegan. Konan seemed a bit surprise of how quickly Pain summoned his other Paths before the fight even started. "Is Nagato being lured in by the jinchuuriki words? No he's doing it because he knows that this boy will pose a challenge for even him." Konan said to herself. Both she and Nagato knew that the person before them couldn't be taken likely if what his reputation went by.
"So he has four other bodies too. From what Yujin told me I guess that each body can use one of the Rinnegan's paths. So I can already confirm that the one with the ponytail is the Animal Path and the short spiky hair one is the Deva Path. I need to do this carefully in order to figure out which body has what ability." Naruto thought as he summoned two of his special double-edge ninjato.
Seeing this Pain went first. Animal quickly clapped its hands together before slamming both on the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" It said before three large poof of smoke appeared. Charging out of the smoke were three large animals: a Rhino on the left, an Ox on the right and finally the Multi-Headed Dog in the center, all of the charging towards Naruto. Said person just stood where he was before smirking, something that caught Pain's attention but before he could figure out what it was the Rhino and Ox summons were suddenly stopped by red and blue ogres. The blue ogre was using its shield to hold back the Ox while the red ogre was using its axe to hold back the Rhino. The Multi-Headed Dog was still charging towards Naruto, but was suddenly cut in two by Sekirei, the bladed extended to slice through the large summon.
"What are those?" Pain asked in disbelief as he watched the two ogres, who despite being bigger then humans, were still smaller then his summons. Yet they had managed to stop said animals with ease.
Naruto smirked. "They are Sayoku (The Blue Ogre) and Uyoku (The Red Ogre)." Naruto said while the split halves of the dog fell on both sides of him. "They're creatures I created from my Onmyoton and usually serve for a different purpose. But when I need them they are pretty reliable and very good working together. Plus, they are very strong."
To prove his point the two ogres finally pushed back their respective opponents. Sayoku then followed his attack up with bashing the Ox's head several times with his shield before delivering a swift and strong uppercut with his right-clawed fist, sending the Ox up in a poof of smoke. Uyoku however landed a strong punch with his left fist into the Rhino's cheek and while said animal was stunned Uyoku finished it off by bringing its axe down on it, also sending the Rhino back to the summoning realm.
Naruto's attention however was on the dog, which had now turned into a two-headed dog plus a single-head dog and both were preparing to pounce on Naruto. But instead of doing what it intended the two dogs disappeared right before Naruto's eyes, who had one of his ninjato pointing at it.
Pain's eyes widened but his attention suddenly drifted to something in the sky above him. Looking up Pain saw that it was Naruto's other ninjato with the Mikado seal on the handle. But that was quickly replaced by Pain's dog summons that appeared right above the Six Paths of Pain and Konan. "Shit" Pain's Animal Path said before sending both dogs back to the summoning realm, saving them from being crushed by Pain's own summon.
"I guess first round goes to me eh?" Naruto asked jokingly with a smirk, Sayoku and Uyoku standing in front of him in fighting stances.
Deva Path's eyes narrowed while the baldheaded Path, Asura Path, stood at the front. "Interesting, you're stronger then I had originally imagined." He said before both of Asura's arms extended, revealing what looked like mini-missiles popping out. Without warning the Path fired a barrage of missiles towards Naruto and the Ogres.
"A mechanical body and weaponry? Must by the Asura Path." Naruto thought before saying. "Akuma Himei (Demon Shriek)!"
Suddenly Sayoku and Uyoku stood side-by-side and in sync released a powerful sonic scream from their mouths. The sound waves were powerful as not only did they deflect the missiles, causing them to explode in mid-air, but also blew back Konan and Pain's paths as well as ripping the trees nearby off from the ground. But quickly the screaming ended but before Pain could recover Uyoku was on top of Asura Path and before said Path could react, it was cut in two vertically by the Ogre's axe. "One down" Naruto murmured.
"I need to get into this fight!" Konan thought to herself as she quickly turned her body into paper, forming wings on her back as she took to the air. Once she was high enough she hardened her paper before launching them from her wings in the form of arrows right towards Naruto. But Sayoku suddenly appeared before its master and raised his shield, deflecting the paper arrows and protecting Naruto.
Konan "tch" but before she could make another move a voice shouted, "Katon: Endan (Fire Release: Flame Bullet)!" A large flame bullet appeared heading towards Konan. However the Akatsuki woman managed to dodge it in time before looking down to see the source of the attack. Coming out of the trees and landing on the recently made clearing was Jiraiya's group, all of them already in fighting stances.
"Damn, was hoping that Yujin would've kept them back." Naruto cursed as he watched the Konoha shinobi face the two Akatsuki members. "This makes my plan a little bit more complicated, but with luck the other Akatsuki members will get here soon and keep these guys occupied."
"We're not letting you guys have Naruto." Kakashi said to Pain. He admit he and the others were a bit confused, and kind of disturbed, that five people all had the same hair color, piercings, and the same odd eyes. But right now they had other matters to focus on.
"Tch, don't treat me like we're on the same side Hatake." Naruto said to his former sensei. "I have no intentions of going with them or you guys." He added as Sayoku and Uyoku took up defensive positions in front of him.
At the front of his team Jiraiya had ignored Kakashi's declaration and Naruto's rebuttal, setting his attention on the six people before him. His eyes were focused on the Deva Path and Konan. "What's going on here? Is that really Yahiko? If so then how does he have Nagato's Rinnegan? Better yet how do four, er five other people have it?" Jiraiya asked himself as he stared at the five bodies plus the two halves of the Asura Path.
Finally Pain's Deva Path spoke. "It's been a while Jiraiya-sensei." He said in his usual monotone voice.
That surprised everyone except for Naruto and Konan. "'Sensei?' What's he talking about Jiraiya-sama?" Yugao asked the Toad Sage.
Jiraiya let out a sigh. "Well for short those two were my students at one point, back during the second war." He said causing the Konoha team to look in surprise. "And the eyes of the orange hair man are-"
"The Rinnegan." Sasuke finished. Several people looked at him in curiosity. "I learned about it in my clan's archives. It was the dojutsu of the Rikudou Sennin, the man who founded ninjutsu." Sasuke added. "But they're suppose to be a myth."
"Well it's not and don't underestimate it. It has abilities I don't know and with five of them possessing it this won't be easy." Jiraiya said as he already began preparing to go into Sage Mode. "Kakashi I need you and the others to buy me some time while I prepare something. I'll summon one of my Toads to assist you." He said with his voice low.
However Pain was done waiting and acted first. The Deva Path raised its right hand and murmured, "Shinra Tensei" And suddenly an invisible force slammed into the Konoha group as well as Naruto and his Ogres. The force sent most of them flying back though Naruto managed to recover quickly. "Guess I better call out one of my summons now too."
"I will not allow you to resist anymore." Pain suddenly said with Deva Path appearing right in front of Naruto. Reacting with incredible instincts Naruto managed to raise Sekirei in time to block a black metallic rod that had appeared from Pain's sleeve. The other Paths and Konan did not remain idle: Naraka Path snuck off to revive Asura Path, Animal Path went to engage Jiraiya and Kakashi, Preta and Human Path were off to fight Kiba, Tenzo and Sasuke while Konan prepared her battle with Yugao and Tenten.
Back with Naruto, said person was finally able to get some distance from the Deva Path when Uyoku appeared, bringing its axe down. "Now Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" Naruto said just as the same time Jiraiya and Animal Path performed the same technique.
Three large pillars of smokes later and soon revealed three large animals. Animal Path had once again summoned the Three-Headed Dog, all heads growling. And Jiraiya had summoned the Toad Chief, Gamabunta and said toad wasn't happy.
"Jiraiya why have you summoned me!?" Gamabunta roared at his old friend, who was currently on top of the large toad's head.
"Sorry Bunta but I'm going to need your help right now as I prepare to summon the two Toad Elders." Jiraiya replied seriously.
"Ma and Pa? Why in Kami's name would you need to summon them? And where the hell are we?" Gamabunta asked as he took out his pipe.
"We're on the Island of the War Gods and right now I'm fighting against a user of the Rinnegan." The Toad Sage said as he began applying red marks on his face.
The eyes of the Toad Chief widened at the mention of the legendary dojutsu. "The Rinnegan! How-wait why are you on a place as dangerous as the Island of the War Gods? Hell I doubt even that bastard Manda would come here." Gamabunta commented.
Jiraiya let out a sad sigh. "Naruto…" He said in return.
Before the Toad Chief could question what he meant another voice, this time more elegant and feminine spoke, catching everyone's attention. "Naruto-kun, it's been a while."
Much to the surprise of everyone gathered, appearing from the third poof of smoke was a fox, around the same size as Gamabunta. It had elegant white fur, blue eyes with seven tails moving about. The tips of the tail were orange along with the paws and seven orange stripes running down from the back of the neck and connecting to the tails. On the top of the fox's head was Naruto. "It has Kasumi-sama. I apologize for summoning you so unexpectedly." Naruto said respectfully.
"It's fine Naruto-kun. That silly mate of mine keeps saying I need to get out more often and not focus so much on the kits." Katsumi said with a tone of royalty before letting out a giggle at the end. Then she quickly turned serious. "Still for you to summon me the enemy must be strong. The last time you called me was to battle against Isobu's jinchuuriki."
"It is, Konoha and Akatsuki have both tracked me down and I need your help to confront them." Naruto said.
"Judging from the eyes of that dog over there I have to say that one of your opponent's possess Hagoromo-sama and Hamura-sama's Rinnegan." Then Katsumi's eyes narrowed as she looked at the Toad Chief. "And…Gamabunta?"
Said toad let out a little gulp before answering. "G-greetings Kasumi-dono, it's been a while." Gamabunta said.
Kasumi looked like she was about to say something but suddenly the Multi-Head dog attacked, restarting the battle. The Animal Path had also summoned the Drill-Beaked Bird and the Snake-Tailed Chameleon, the latter it used to hide from the others. Naruto focused chakra to his feet as Kasumi jumped back to avoid the dog's claws. One of her tails began to glow red and soon after Kasumi released a stream of fire at Pain's dog summon. The flames consumed the dog causing it to let out a howl of pain before it managed to jump back, severe burns on its body.
"That fox can breath fire!?" Jiraiya asked in surprise while Gamabunta dodged the Drill-Beak Bird's claws.
"The Fox summons can do more then that." Gamabunata said when he landed. "As they grow the foxes gain tails, the maximum being nine though there have been rare occurrences of ten-tails. Anyway each tail gives the fox a special ability, one of them being an element. Kasumi-dono is currently the strongest female fox and is the mate of Kogetsu, the Chief Fox of Kosanji Den (High Sacred Mountain Den)."
"Damn that's one hell of a summoning contract Naruto got his hands on." Jiraiya muttered while focusing chakra to prepare for Sage Mode.
"Oh and by the way once you're done with these Akatsuki punks I'm leaving. Nor myself or the other members of my tribe have any desire of fighting the gaki…let alone forcing him back to that hellhole!" Gamabunta bellowed.
"Got it…" Jiraiya said, wincing a bit. He hadn't forgotten how pissed off the toads were when they learned of how Naruto's contract with them been annulled or how he was treated. Jiraiya was nearly skewered alive by enraged Gamabunta and the only reason why he still had a contract with the toads was because of their long time working together.
Back with the rest of the Konoha team, they were about to engage their opponents when several explosions occurred all around them. Looking up they saw Deidara riding on what appeared to be a giant clay dragon. The Iwa-bomber quickly dropped several more clay bombs that had turned into small birds.
"Scatter!" Kakashi ordered as he and several others got out of the way of the bombs. Tenzo however used his Mokuton and created a strong dome of wood to protect him and others from the explosions.
"Heh now this is getting interesting!" Kiba said with a smug grin as he and Akamaru prepared for combat.
"We could really use Sai right now." Kakashi said as he looked around for said student. "Where's Sasuke?"
The young Uchiha had been separated from the others due to Deidara's explosions. He was able to recover quickly, landing on the ground feet first, and had only some dirt on his clothes. However before he could move forward to regroup with the others, multiple crows began to fly around him and he soon found himself face to face with a person he longed to see. "Itachi…" Sasuke said faintly as he looked at the man he once pledged to kill.
"Hello little brother." Itachi said in a monotone voice. "I wonder if your hatred has-"
"Don't give me that hatred crap anymore!" Sasuke roared, surprising Itachi a bit by his sudden show of emotion. However the elder Uchiha hid it well…until he heard the next words come out of Sasuke's mouth. "I know the truth about that night and why you killed our clan! Do you have any idea about how much you screwed up?"
The beginning battle between Konoha and the Akatsuki reinforcements went ignored by Naruto. Said person's head whipped around behind him, a look of surprise and worry on his face. Kasumi caught noticed of this. "Naruto-kun, is something wrong?" She asked.
"Kasumi-sama I need to ask you to head towards the island center and hurry!" Naruto said before he recalled Uyoku and Sayoku to cover his rear. "Someone has breached Sadahiko-hijiji's seal!"
As Naruto began making his way towards his new destination, both Konoha and Akatsuki made their way to follow after their shared target, towards the new battlefield that was the island's center.
(Orochimaru's Group)
"This is interesting." The Snake Sannin said as his group faced the obstacle before them.
Orochimaru had intended to head towards where Sasuke/Naruto would most likely be. But Jugo's words caught his interest and he decided to take a brief detour towards the island's center to see what the orange-hair young man was talking about. When they arrived they came face to face with the largest wall any of them had ever seen before. It went above the tall trees on the island, grey and covered with vines and cracks all over it.
"Something left by the Uzumaki clan perhaps?" Kabuto suggested.
"Probably" Orochimaru replied as he rubbed some of the vines off a part of the wall, taking a look at the unique designs on the wall mixed in with the Uzumaki clan's symbol. "I'm curious to see what's on the other side however." Orochimaru said as he began running up the wall, his feet infused with chakra so he could stick to the wall's surface. Kabuto, Karin and Jugo soon followed him, but none of them noticed a faint blue appeared on the symbols before they quickly disappeared.
It took them a good fifteen minutes before the group of four finally reached the top of the wall. What they saw astounded them even Orochimaru had a look of overwhelming shock for a moment, before it quickly reverted back into normal surprise.
"H-how…" Karin murmured as she took in the sight before her. "How is there a city on this island?"
True enough before the four people, a large ruined city, with high towers and buildings made of material unknown stood before them. Much of the city had black letter words written all over them and black lines on the streets converging towards the center, where the image of a large dark purple dome could be seen from Orochimaru's group's view.
(Sadahiko's Home)
The elder Uzumaki was back in his workshop, surrounded by desks, shelves and various scrolls and papers while he was sitting on the floor cross-legged with a large sheet of paper before him and a large paintbrush in his hands. On the sheet of paper was something that looked akin to a family tree. At the top, inside a black circle, was the name Kaguya Otsutsuki. Under that name were two more names, connected by black lines. On the left was Hagoromo Otsutsuki and on the right was Hamura Otsutsuki. Underneath Hagoromo's name the black line split in two again, with two more names too. One was Indra with the Uchiha symbol under it, and Ashura, with the Senju symbol under that one. Like with Hagoromo under Hamura's name there were also two black lines each one connecting to a name. One name was Ganesha with the Uzumaki symbol under that name and the other was Surya with the Hyuga symbol under it. From the four names the black lines kept increasing as they connected to more and more names.
"Why people thought that Genasha, the Uzumaki founder, was the third child of Hagoromo and not his nephew I'll never know." Sadahiko commented as he kept writing names.
However he paused suddenly when he felt something on his right arm. Pulling back his sleeve revealed a small circle with the kanji 'Alert' in it blinking blue rapidly. This caused Sadahiko to narrow his eyes before he put the paintbrush down. Getting up swiftly Sadahiko raised his left arm up and extended his fingers to open. Once he did a wooden staff with a round top flew from the side and into Sadahiko's waiting hand. Gripping the staff Sadahiko turned around and made to leave his home. "That idiot, I told him to make sure none of them got to the barrier." Sadahiko mumbled as he opened his front door. "Well it's been a while but I guess I better get into the game." Sadahiko added before he took off from the ground, heading towards the battlefield.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票