- Location
- The Middle of the Howling Wilderness
"Good news, team, there's a powerful but unstable ninja ready to fight with us!"
"Yeah, we know, Deidara's right over there"
Obito-Sensei (A Sakura-Centric Naruto AU)
- Thread starter Ser_Serendipity
- Start date
"Good news, team, there's a powerful but unstable ninja ready to fight with us!"
"Yeah, we know, Deidara's right over there"
Chapter 85: Blind Spite
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Beyond Frost: Nagato's Prisoner
The room he had been confined to was a truly grand space with intricately carved murals covering the walls, thick hand-knotted rugs imported from the Land of Wind, and an oversized four-poster bed with royal purple drapes and five-hundred thousand Ryo mattress. Crystal glasses with fine stoppered liquor decorated the cabinet, and leather-bound books stuffed the shelf at the foot of the bed. It was an opulent suite where everything was catered to taste, power, and wealth, filled with the signs of Rain's success and multiculturalism.
Being blind, Yahiko could not appreciate much of it. Even if he could see, he likely would not have anyway. Though the room had a balcony that gazed out onto Amegakure, the view had been spoiled by two separate attacks and the half-repaired devastation of the city; even to a blind man, it served as a constant reminder of his rage.
House arrest was the most genial sort of confinement possible. He was not even forbidden to leave the suite, and with Sage Mode, it was trivial to navigate even better than a man with sight could. But everywhere he went, he was shadowed, and right now Yahiko had even less power to affect the Nation's course than a Genin. At least, officially. No matter what Nagato had said, ninja could not turn away from him. They understood with the sharp clarity that only followers could that Yahiko was responsible for what the Nation had grown into, even more so than Nagato and Konan were.
Because where would they be without him? It was his vision that had kept them alive before they'd found Jiraiya; it was his drive that had convinced the Sannin to teach them; without him, Nagato would never have found the confidence to embrace the power of the Rinnegan and use it to change the world; without him, Konan would never have kept studying her paper jutsu to the point of becoming an S-Rank ninja. He had pushed his oldest and only friends higher and harder than anyone else, to the point that even when Hanzo had poisoned him and left his lungs filled with blood they had pushed on and deposed the Tyrant without him in that fateful final battle.
Now, he had been left behind once more. Last time, for an injury he had sustained; now, for an injury the Nation had sustained. He understood what had driven his loved ones to this drastic action, even if it was foolishness. Humans were complicated, but their motivations were often simple. Envy and fear, in Yahiko's experience, were the root of all ambition. People came together out of fear of the other, of the unknown, and then they desired what others had. When they had been children, he had wanted nothing more than the imagined security enjoyed by the larger powers. Now, as an adult, his fear was that that security had never existed, and would have to be created from scratch.
So Nagato and Konan envied his decisiveness, and they feared his independence. Going behind their back had not been a mistake; it had kept Konoha entirely in the dark, and while the attack hadn't succeeded entirely the Leaf was nonetheless crippled. Minato had underestimated Nagato, just like everyone except Yahiko ever had, and now Konoha's strength was revealed to be a fragile tower of secrets and lies. Yes, Konoha was the strongest village… so long as the Hokage's technique was a secret. So long as its Jinchuriki was intact. So long as everyone thought it was the strongest. The fact that Kushina hadn't accompanied Minato to the assault certainly meant that she was dead or disabled; Kimimaro had sacrificed his life to further the revolution. It certainly explained Minato's fury.
Yahiko leaned back in his armchair, continuing to fall deeper into thought and ignoring his guest as the ninja stood at attention, waiting on his next words. Nagato had made a mistake not killing Minato at that moment. They'd all known he was capable of it, but he'd chosen to follow Jiraiya's lessons instead of pursuing the final victory. That wasn't a failure, not really. Jiraiya's lessons had brought them all together, and they were soothing to the heart and pleasing to the mind. To extend a hand in forgiveness, or to meet hate with love, those were the beautiful images that could unite nations and forge myths that would endure for millennia. They had granted the Sage immortality, and many other martyrs besides.
But martyrs were the foundations of legends; they didn't win wars. And right now, Rain was engaged in the final war, the ultimate crucible to test its beliefs and its methods against a cruel existence that wanted it exterminated. For all the country's history it had been this way, bombarded from every side, colonized, exploited, used as a battleground so as not to befoul the wealthy and fortunate parts of the world. With the country capped by the Nation's might, that bile had spilled out into the rest of the continent.
What had the world given Rain beyond death and destruction? What protest could it offer when they were given back?
Nagato had to continue the war, and to finish it. Konan had to continue dealing with Cloud. Those two things were the absolute highest priority. For now, it did not matter if Konoha believed a cease-fire had been reached, so long as Nagato did not believe the same.
"And for that," Yahiko said out loud, "we will have to be involved."
"Lord First?" The Jonin that was meeting with him was named Azai, a loyal ninja that had defected from the Hidden Sand more than a decade ago. Yahiko did not trust him as much as Nagato and Konan, or the Akatsuki's commanders, but with Kie and Kimimaro dead he was sufficient.
"I presume Nagato has continued to steer resources away from the Land of Fire," Yahiko said, and he heard Azai nod.
"You're correct, sir. Though he has not declared the Hidden Leaf a neutral party, most of his orders have recalled more Rain forces to the Nation, in addition to sending our forces in the Land of Frost reinforcements. They have been meeting with great success there. Though…" He paused, and Yahiko could feel his trepidation. "There has been some unsettling news."
"Don't delay," Yahiko commanded, and Azai obeyed immediately. Even blind, his voice was confidence itself. For someone who desired dominion over the world, nothing less would suffice.
"Some of the reinforcements were not ours," Azai admitted. "Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Namikaze have joined with Konan's forces, accompanied by Jiraiya. They've assisted her in liberating Kushiro, and are now traveling east with the rest to destroy the Cloud forces massing at the coast-"
Some of the crystal in the room cracked: expensive liquor dribbled out and doubtlessly stained the exquisite carpets, and Azai fell silent. Yahiko had not meant to lose control like that, but he couldn't let his subordinate know that. He fell deeper into the expression of power, letting his chakra rage and match his inner storm. The room groaned and shook as the aura of a sage assailed it, before Yahiko reigned his chakra in like a hungry beast and leaned forward, focusing his empty sockets on his guest.
"That is unfortunate," he said shortly. "No doubt it's a ploy by Konoha to distract Konan, or worse, to try and convince her to be rid of me completely."
"I could not believe that Lady Konan could do such a thing," Azai said, and Yahiko nodded.
"I do not either, but that doesn't change that Jiraiya and the Leaf would make the attempt." He made a show of consideration, even though he had already made up his mind. "Nagato must be happy with the news."
"He is. He sees those ninja as a bridge to peace. The original plan to release them as ambassadors to Konoha is being reconsidered in light of their achievements in Frost."
"He doesn't understand Jiraiya-sensei's true desires," Yahiko said, his voice low. "Though they may be talented ninja, as they are they could be a poison to the Nation."
"Do you believe they should be removed?" Azai said. Not stiffly, nor eagerly; the matter of fact question of a ninja who already knew of the means, and was simply looking for confirmation.
"No. That would be too obvious, and would drive Nagato and Konan further into pacifism," Yahiko said, leaning back and breathing out. "They will have to be worked around. The important thing is that Nagato continues to prosecute the war. My time as his shepherd has passed; he has gained the power and independence to fully act on his own. My role as the First Vanguard has been completely superseded."
"But he still needs your guidance," Azai argued, and Yahiko laughed.
"He does not need my guidance; he needs to open his eyes to the truth," he said. "Once Rain reigns, even if it is over ashes, we can dictate the course of history to our desire. To reach that point, anything is acceptable. The Tailed Beasts are powerful weapons, as is Cloud's Cannon, but Nagato outstrips them both." He closed his hand into a fist. "The push must be two-fold. Firstly, those who advise Nagato must continue to show him that he is essentially a god. If a cult must be fostered, so be it, though genuine fanaticism wouldn't be desirable here. He must act unilaterally. His heart is just as vulnerable to injustice as mine: he must be counseled to listen to it, and to strike out and destroy evil wherever it appears. He has the power; he has the Hiraishin. There is nothing beyond him. Konan and I are now secondary to him. As the other villages have vested their power and trust in a sole Kage, so it must be for Nagato."
He paused, taking a deep breath. "Secondly, the war must continue until the other villages are destroyed, physically and spiritually. There is no chance of Cloud surviving this conflict; Konan, Nagato, Kiri, or Konoha will surely destroy them eventually, together or apart. Suna will attempt to retrieve their Jinchuriki from us, stuck in old ways of thinking and chained to obsolete powers. That will give us the justification to obliterate them. The Hidden Stone and its Fence-Sitter will start to tremble at the imbalance and step in, and Nagato will flatten them too. That leaves the problem of Kiri and Konoha."
He steepled his fingers as Azai continued to listen, captured by Yahiko's gravity. "Kiri will be greatly weakened by the war in Frost: they may even wither away on their own, if things turn dramatically against them or Cloud fires their Cannon once more. This leaves our primary struggle with Konoha, as was fated from the beginning. Nagato will be tempted to let them survive, to allow them to grow once more into a competing power, and perhaps that would even be possible given the clans and Tailed Beasts they have at their disposal. He is strong, but not invincible. So the war could not be allowed to cool. The Hidden Leaf must not have time to recover. No matter what, the Nation must continue to hound them to the point of destruction."
"That would not be possible with counseling alone. Nagato is unlikely to shift his approach solely based on the words of others, even if he trusts them."
"Yes. The flame would need to be stoked." Yahiko closed his eyes. "If necessary, further destruction could be unleashed on the Nation to rekindle them."
Azai paused. "False attacks?"
"Well within our capabilities. And if Konoha protested, what could they prove? Nagato cannot question the dead, and the Leaf has shown time and time again they cannot control their own ninja. In the eyes of the world, such a thing would be eminently believable."
"I see." Azai considered, and accepted. "Is there anything else?"
"No. We will leave it here for now; if you stay longer, Nagato may suspect something." Yahiko rose, heading towards the balcony. "Leave, and inform the others. If I have further considerations, I will contact you."
Azai left without a word, and Yahiko strode out onto the balcony, sightlessly staring out over the country he and the people who were so close to him they may as well have been his heart and lungs had built. As he did, the first doubt of the day assailed him.
'You became strong together. By doing this, you have destroyed yourself.'
Was this how Hanzo had felt, he wondered. Hidden away, living in fear of power beyond his comprehension and working through middlemen and patsies. No, of course not. He dismissed the thought for the ridiculous comparison it was. Hanzo had been a cruel tyrant who killed without a thought to cement his own power; Yahiko was surrendering all the true power he had. The fate of the world was in Nagato's hands now, not his, and he was content with that. He had done everything he could to bring the quiet, shy boy with the power of a god to this point, and now only had to unleash him. Nagato had endured all of the Nation's pain as his own; he would teach the rest of the nations and ninja of the world that pain, and in the face of that overwhelming agony they would be cowed into obedience or destroyed.
Once Nagato ruled the world, no one would ever have to suffer again.
It was a beautiful thought, but it didn't stick in his mind as it should have. It felt hollow, insincere. For a moment, everything did. A harsh breeze blew in from the lake, rattling the balcony's iron bars, and Yahiko shivered, though he wasn't cold. For a split second, he thought he heard his name in the wind.
'Unless you're saved by a miracle-'
Jiraiya's piercing dark eyes glared at him from beyond the veil of blindness, and Yahiko stormed back inside, slamming the door and staggering back to his chair. Even if the First Vanguard wasn't needed anymore, that didn't mean he had no role to play. He'd meditate. He'd plot. He'd find the way forward.
'You're going to die alone.'
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
God, he needs slapping. I'm hoping, that with ten more years of like, relatively normal people interaction, that Nagato wouldn't be as affected by any increase in devotion or worship directed his way. I can hope.
Yahiko! I used to think you were being an idiot when you ordered the attack on Konoha but now I understand that you're simply a deranged lunatic with delusions of grandeur by proxy. Trying to convince your best friend that he's a god? Planning false flag attacks on your own people to encourage Nagato to declare war on Konoha? Nagato should have let Minato kill Yahiko. Yahiko has killed the Akatsuki's dream with his attack on Konoha, marking the Nation of Rain as no different from any other Shinobi village, and now his insanity is going to wind up as a dagger through Hidden Rain's heart.
All that devotion and cult stuff could cause Nagato to crack down on the cultists. Yahiko underestimates his best friend's fortitude if he thinks Nagato can be led around by the nose like this.
Interesting. I wonder how much of Yahiko's personality and drive is built on guilt/remorse for not being able to be there during the final battle with Hanzo. Or how much of it is him being (an S-rank ninja, yes) a relatively normal ninja compared to Nagato and even Konan. His only original technique is Rain Tiger at Will, otherwise he uses Sage Mode like Jiraiya and he's an extremely potent Water Style user, but Konan created Shikigami Dance and Nagato has the Rinnegan. Maybe there was a seed of that and not being there to defeat Hanzo made it start to grow. Kind of like Sasuke at the end of Part I in canon.
His original ideology was always a bridge between Jiraiya and what became Pain's, it's kind of surprising that it took this long and this much adversity to get him to really start developing toward the Pain or even Tobi school of thought.
Sakura? Is that you?
Even with the Hiraishin cracked and Kushina out of the field, I'm pretty sure they are still the strongest. Kiri is about as shitty as it was in canon, Suna is also about the same but probably shittier because Rasa is a giant dirtbag, I guess they still have Chiyo though. Kumo with the cannon is a big threat though, and the A/B combo has always been dangerous, but they're down a Jinchuuriki and A is demonstrably Minato's 300 pound, pro-wrestler bitch. I should reread the fic but as far as rereading goes I probably have other things of a higher priority, so I can't remember if Han is gone or not, but, and I've said it before, Iwa is the real wild card, a strong third, but they could always cross the sea and stab Kumo in the back, or they could do the same to Konoha.
I don't like this synthesis of George S. Patton and... Trotsky? Himmler? Someone like that. It's concerningly fitting for Yahiko though.
I touched on this earlier, but I wonder if Iwa's response won't just be to attack Suna while they're weakened. They don't have a Tailed Beast, Pakura is long dead and Sasori long gone, Suna's strongest assets are Rasa, who can probably tackled by Kitsuchi and another competant ninja, and Chiyo, then Baki and the remaining Sand Siblings, I guess? Granted they could also try to first strike Kumo, who Ohnoki had the biggest problem with in canon. On the other hand, Minato still being alives means that many in Iwa will have a personal grudge against Konoha. Back to that first hand though, it's in ninja nature to kick an opponent while they're down.
I just really like Iwa, I have trouble not rambling about them.
This isn't just Hanzo behavior. This is Danzo behavior. And that is some delicious irony. I hope, if he ever meets Jiraiya again, or if Nagato runs into him when this comes to light, the Pervy Sage tells them about the Third Hokage's shady ex-teammate.
Yeah no. This is rational, he is nothing like Hanzo, especially at the end. Good thing he dismissed this out of hand. Seriously though, while he is completely wrong, he does have something of a point. Hanzo's power was entirely personal (a fate Yahiko is trying to foist off on Nagato), while Yahiko, again, like Pain, is trying to create an idea that people will follow and be based on. At the same time, he is encouraging his own cult of personality, even if he's saying he's not. The Akatsuki is already an idea, and Rain's philosophy is very strong, but Yahiko is making a very similar mistake to Hanzo, and trying to crowbar it into being a personality cult (or just a straight up cult, really) based around Nagato.
He's 🤏 this close to espousing Pain's philosophy huh?
Also all of the parallels with Sakura. It's weird how the parallels with the Ame Orphans and Team Seven have shaken out in this fic.
I do enjoy how you write action, but your introspective stuff is really top-notch.
Always a pleasure to see an update for this @Ser_Serendipity .
The look inside Yahiko's head is really quite haunting. Justification on top of justification, ego and pride, dismissal of any other viewpoint but his own and a festering mess of spite and spiritual blindness.
He really thinks that he's done nothing wrong and is actively going to keep making things worse via false flag attacks on his own people and fermenting a Cult around Nagato. Sadly it looks like Minato was 100% correct that leaving Yahiko alive would only bring Nagato-Rain further grief, Nagato was never going to make that choice but looking at Yahiko now yeah he really should have turned his blinded fanatic of a friend over to the Hokage. The Danzo comparison and how his continued existence was the great failing of the Third Hokage has already been made but holy shit yeah it's apt.
I've remarked earlier that Sakura and Yahiko in this story have some massive Eren Yeager energy but I think as of this chapter Yahiko has actually surpassed Eren in disfunction, which is saying something. Eren hated himself for what he was doing and his disdain-dismissal of his oldest friends was an act, Yahiko has either no regrets or has buried them so utterly they can't reach the surface, he praises and talks up his friends outwardly but the look inside his head shows him twisting everything into a narcissistic way: insisting they only succeeded because of him and dismisses-belittles them by thinking they locked him up-condemned his actions purely out of fear and envy.
Interesting dip-bit that Nagato is happy to hear about the Team 7 in Frost plot line and hopes it can bridge a way to peace while Yahiko actually kind of snaps-bubble over when he hears this is happening.
The look inside Yahiko's head is really quite haunting. Justification on top of justification, ego and pride, dismissal of any other viewpoint but his own and a festering mess of spite and spiritual blindness.
He really thinks that he's done nothing wrong and is actively going to keep making things worse via false flag attacks on his own people and fermenting a Cult around Nagato. Sadly it looks like Minato was 100% correct that leaving Yahiko alive would only bring Nagato-Rain further grief, Nagato was never going to make that choice but looking at Yahiko now yeah he really should have turned his blinded fanatic of a friend over to the Hokage. The Danzo comparison and how his continued existence was the great failing of the Third Hokage has already been made but holy shit yeah it's apt.
I've remarked earlier that Sakura and Yahiko in this story have some massive Eren Yeager energy but I think as of this chapter Yahiko has actually surpassed Eren in disfunction, which is saying something. Eren hated himself for what he was doing and his disdain-dismissal of his oldest friends was an act, Yahiko has either no regrets or has buried them so utterly they can't reach the surface, he praises and talks up his friends outwardly but the look inside his head shows him twisting everything into a narcissistic way: insisting they only succeeded because of him and dismisses-belittles them by thinking they locked him up-condemned his actions purely out of fear and envy.
Interesting dip-bit that Nagato is happy to hear about the Team 7 in Frost plot line and hopes it can bridge a way to peace while Yahiko actually kind of snaps-bubble over when he hears this is happening.
- Location
- England
If they live long enough, the Shonen Protagonist turns into Danzo.
WinterLantern
Smoked bird
- Location
- North England
Oof guess the blinding was literal and metaphorical. Loved the delicious irony of Yahiko asserting that Nagano and Konan would never of reached the heights of their power without him, which we know to be false.
Seethe and cope Nagato, i hope people the other Rain Kage's can trust are seeing this sad devolvement.
There can be peace, Nagato is right.
Seethe and cope Nagato, i hope people the other Rain Kage's can trust are seeing this sad devolvement.
There can be peace, Nagato is right.
Honestly the way Yahiko is thinking about Nagato-Konan now is such a red flag for how truly twisted and up in his own issues Yahiko has become. He was the most assertive of the Akatsuki trio as children and was a driving force to motivate them to pursue their goals and like very likely did play a huge part in his teamates becoming the kind of incredible Shinobi they are now by example and encouragement and motivation etc.
But there's a real difference between someone being a supportive friend in hard times who contributes and someone thinking "every success and achievement the others got happened because of me!"
There's a really toxic narcissism where when Konan-Nagato succeed Yahiko hypes them up while being convinced that this is them being the people he made them into. Yet when they do anything he doesn't agree with suddenly he dismisses them as childish and small, needing his guiding hand to see the light. His complete non engagement with why they locked him up is telling.
Walker Of Chaos
Best/Worst Dynasty
- Location
- Sweden
Excellent as always. One thing that particularly struck me was the sheer inevitability that Yahiko gives the confrontation with Konoha. No other side has any true agency. Sand will fade away due to their current weakness. Stone will be wiped out by Nagato almost as an afterthought and of course Cloud is doomed to lose the war. None of the other actors matter because they will all take care of themself so that there can be one glorious final struggle with Konoha. That he manages to hold this view even after Cloud showed that it's fully possible for an actor to flip the board and rewrite all the rules is honestly chilling. This is the mind of a true fanatic. No matter what happens he will just force it into fitting his current notion of how things should be.
Not sure how likely it is but it would be truly fascinating to see a conversation between Yahiko and Sakura at this point.
Not sure how likely it is but it would be truly fascinating to see a conversation between Yahiko and Sakura at this point.
Ultra Sonic 007
Trying to keep things simple~
- Location
- Colorado
Yahiko is akin to the America security folks who thought the Cold War would continue in perpetuity, and were utterly gobsmacked that the USSR actually broke apart without any sort of hot war to finish the job.
Real "end of history" vibes...except history never ends while human nature remains.
Real "end of history" vibes...except history never ends while human nature remains.
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Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Thanks! It took a while to get into, but I think the results were worth it.
A couple pretty hard slaps, yeah. As for Nagato, he has a good head on his shoulders, but we'll see how he handles the pressure, both from outside and within.
Yeah, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. Anyway, let's check in on Team 7 next time...
Contrary to what Konan believes, imo, you cannot kill a dream, though Yahiko might be trying his best.
Very insightful. Yeah, it's easy for me to see Yahiko as possessing envy in his heart, even if it's not normally something he could be driven to act on.
tbf, Yahiko was meeting a lot of success with a more moderate approach until like a month ago, so it took a lot to turn him fully around.
👀
Han's still around, along with Roshi: Iwa actually is in a very strong position right now, but Yahiko's not inclined to give them much credit. Onoki is happy to sit back and let everyone kill one another, but if some strays head Stone's way any village would have a nasty fight on their hands. Of course, that's assuming nothing big changes.
I didn't write Yahiko with any particular historical figure in mind to be honest; from my perspective the thoughts of fanatics usually run in the same patterns, regardless of ideology. Extermination, finalism, and a disregard for morality can be found everywhere.
lol, no worries. I'm ashamed that they've featured so sparsely in this fic tbh, but at least we'll be seeing Yui Tono again soonish. Everyone's got their part to play in the climax.
There's something nicely poetic about Jiraiya both removing Danzo and training the man who would inherit his will. Not kind, but nice.
Thanks, this means a lot to me! I'm very confident in my action scenes but even now I bite my nails over getting into character's heads like this, especially when they've been kept implicit instead of explicit. It's a relief to hear something like this.
Yeah, it was a pretty gross mindset to get into. I still don't necessarily think that Yahiko is a bad person, really: it's just that he's an ambitious and talented guy, and it's easy for ambitious and talented people to fall into narcassitic thought patterns about the people around them. Combine that with the atrocities Rain was subject to, and I truly do have a lot of sympathy for Yahiko (even now), despite what he's doing being obviously wrong.
It's an interesting question to be fair, even if it's probably a joke. What defines most shonen protagonists? I don't think it's a stretch to say the willingness to keep going no matter what, and the steadfast belief that they're in the right. Those are compelling character traits for young readers, and teach important lessons. But if you get older, crueler, more cynical, and still believe that you have to do whatever it takes to get to the finish line, still have an unshakeable belief in your virtue, doesn't bad shit start happening? It keeps you safe from greed or other failings that create grief, but that doesn't mean it can't send you to a dark place.
I do love my metaphors. And yeah, stay optimistic! Even after everything, there are still people working towards a better tomorrow, Nagato, Obito, and Team 7 foremost among them, along with the people close to them. It'll be tough, but they have a good shot at it.
Well observed. Yeah, Yahiko sees Konoha as Rain's sibling state, both tackling Jiraiya's question from different angles. It's come up before, of course, but now it's taken a decidedly Cain and Abel bent, lmao.
And that conversation would be incredibly interesting, yeah. I'm still sorting out the exact timing of the finale: maybe they'll have time for it, maybe they won't. But I think in their current state, Sakura and Yahiko would 100% agree with one another, but also wholeheartedly believe that the other would need to be destroyed for the good of the world. Yahiko for spreading destruction and opposing cooperation, and Sakura for posing an emotional threat to Nagato and a bond to Konoha that must be broken.
It's well put, especially because Yahiko is being a bit more direct about it. He doesn't think that they've hit the terminal point and that "history" has ended: he wants to end history. Rewrite the books and the world so comprehensively that in another thousand years, only people who really go digging (like Obito and Kushina are now) would even be able to figure out why things are the way they are. And with what could be the Second Sage of the Six Paths on his side, or at least, heading in his direction... well, it's not impossible! You could never call the guy lacking in ambition, whatever his failings are.
Thanks for reading, everyone! I'm making progress on the next chapter, but it's a lot longer and I have a busy week ahead of me, so we'll see if it's out next week. Wish me luck!
Chapter 86: The Battle of Hakoda
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Must Make Daring Plans, Even If They Won't Survive Contact With The Enemy
Over the next several days, Rain's forces pushed east across the Land of Frost with ferocious energy. In the face of such a concentration of powerful ninja, the occupying forces of the Land of Lightning and Kumogakure had little choice but to shatter. Ninja weren't made to take and hold ground, but there was nonetheless a brutal rout across the country as Cloud ninja retreated, consolidated, and were descended upon and wiped out one after the other. Many escaped to fight another day, but demoralized and disorganized as they were, they had little chance to affect the eventual outcome of the brief and bloody war.
Rain did not come through this offensive unscathed despite their local superiority. Ambushes, traps, brave or stupid Kumo ninja, and bad luck drained their numbers with fatalities and injuries that even medical ninja of Naruto and Nonō's caliber could not repair. By the time they reached Hakoda, Konan's active forces had been reduced to fifty-three ninja, less than half of their initial contingent. Other roaming assault and raiding groups were active across the country, but they experienced the same or worse casualty rates as Konan's command company, reducing Amegakure's strength in the Land of Frost to roughly three-hundred and fifty ninja. These casualties were far past what most shinobi villages would consider having rendered a force combat ineffective, especially in the face of Cloud's superior numbers and equipment, but Konan and her subordinates stubbornly pushed on nonetheless.
None of Rain's S-Rank ninja had fallen. Until one did, destroying Cloud's strength took priority.
Team Seven fought seven battles in two days, all as fierce and dangerous as their first assault on Kushiro. They saved lives and also ended them, and two of them considered that deeply while the last thought little at all. Ninja moved quickly when it came to everything from war to socializing, and by the end of their third day in the Land of Frost, Team Seven were completely enmeshed in the Rain force and trusted as battle comrades, if not absolutely. In that respect, Naruto and Sakura's plan had been a complete success.
On the night of their second day, shortly after speaking with his brother, Sasuke passed on Itachi's message to Konan, who was disturbed by it but had very little power to challenge it. On the evening of the third day, Sasuke called together the people present that he trusted most: Naruto, Sakura, Jiraiya, Fuu, and Konan. Shadowed by the blood-red sunset, he united his knowledge with Jiraiya, the only other there that had spoken with Madara Uchiha, and explained to all of them his suspicions about Itachi, his concerns about the living shadow known as Black Zetsu, and the beginning of his plan to deal with it.
No one there could have known that this conference, undertaken with utmost secrecy and painful sincerity, was shadowed by an unwelcome eavesdropper.
###
"Normally, I would have to agree with your brother," Konan said, crossing her arms. Sasuke knew she'd humored him by agreeing to this reclusive meeting, and that he didn't deserve more of her attention than any other ninja in the war-band. That's what they had become, racing across the country and attacking any enemies that tried to resist them as they made their way towards the port city of Hakoda. "It sounds absurd. But…"
"But?" Naruto asked. He and Fuu had worn almost the same expression throughout the conversation, something between faint astonishment and paranoia. Jiraiya and Sakura had been eerily similar as well, quietly contemplating the impossibilities they were being told with hardly a word in edgewise.
"But this sounds unfortunately familiar," Konan admitted. They were some distance from the rest of the Rain ninja, and she was keeping her voice low. "Nagato had terrible nightmares when we were younger; he often believed something was chasing after him. When he grew older, the nightmares disappeared, and so we believed them the immature fears of a child in the midst of war." She grimaced. "But when your brother appeared in Amegakure after it was attacked, Sasuke, while he was fighting Nagato to kidnap you… I thought it must have been some sort of secret technique. His shadow came to life. It screamed and drove Nagato back. It was only thanks to that that he escaped."
'It came out when I was fighting Nagato; it screamed.'
Sasuke nodded, stopping a tremor of fear or excitement from rippling down his arm before it could start. "He told me exactly that," he confirmed. "I think that was the final straw for him. Black Zetsu must have been desperate to escape: Madara said that the Rinnegan was the only thing that could kill him. If that's the case, risking revealing himself would have been worth it."
"Do you believe that?" Jiraiya asked. Sasuke shrugged. "'Cause pushing Itachi and Nagato together again probably won't be possible. Especially if Madara's Will is focused on surviving."
"I think Madara was full of shit," Sasuke said frankly, and Jiraiya chuckled and nodded. "He might have thought that the Rinnegan was all that could destroy his Will, but I doubt that's true. From what he described, it's a shadow animated by chakra, like a Shadow Clone. Hitting it hard enough would hurt it, if that's the case, and even if it's somehow immune to physical damage, attacking its chakra directly would certainly damage it."
"Can you do that, Sasuke?" Sakura asked, her tone intense, and Sasuke shook his head.
"Maybe eventually, but not right now. Even my Mangekyo couldn't." Konan stirred; his eyes' evolution was new information to her, but Sasuke didn't care. She wasn't his enemy, and if things went right hopefully never would be. "But that doesn't matter. There's plenty of people who can. My mother has a technique for it, and Hinata's Gentle Fist can drain chakra. Either of them could probably attack Black Zetsu directly and kill it. Then, Itachi would be free."
"That's good. And it's not like it would leave Itachi, considering how dangerous he is," Sakura mused, and Sasuke nodded along. "Him coming here practically proves it. If he was thinking clearly, I doubt he would have risked everything approaching you like he did."
"It's way too creepy though," Fuu said. Naruto nodded along, looking more and more disturbed as everything sank in. "Being possessed by an old dead crazy guy? Or, well, his shadow anyway? It's no wonder your brother is so weird, Sasuke." She considered her words for a moment. "No offense."
"None taken," Sasuke assured her. It was his lifeline right now, so he didn't mind Fuu throwing it towards him. It was easy for him to believe that everything strange and wrong about Itachi was due to Madara's shadow; it was the simplest, the most correct explanation. No matter what Madara had said, there was no way his brother could have murdered all the people he had without Black Zetsu pushing him forward.
"I didn't know chakra could do that sort of thing," Naruto admitted. "But I guess…"
"What?" Sasuke asked, seeing his friend struggle for the words. After a moment, Naruto decided to take the plunge, looking around to see everyone's reaction.
"It's kinda like the Bijuu, isn't it?" he said, and everyone stirred. Sasuke hadn't considered that angle, and he paid close attention as Naruto continued. "Life created from chakra. Which is also sorta what my own technique is… but only halfway." Naruto sat down, cupping his chin in his hands. "Chakra is capable of all sorts of insane things. I guess no one really understands all of it. Except maybe Nagato, with those eyes, but I feel like if he knew how to make his shadow come to life he would do it." He looked to Konan for confirmation, but she just shrugged. "I dunno. I'm not sure where I'm going with this. It just stuck out to me, that's all."
"It's a good point, Naruto," Jiraiya said, sitting down as well. As if by a shared gravity, most of the shinobi were brought to the ground except for Fuu, who kept anxiously shifting from foot to foot. "There may be another factor we're missing. The Sage had sons, after all, but Kushina said the Kyuubi, Kurama, told her they were 'made in his image.' It might be that Asura and Indra were the Sage's shadow given life and a bit more form than Madara's. Maybe the old bastard was doing his best to have a kid despite missing his chance."
"Gross," Naruto said, sticking his tongue out. Sasuke didn't miss the brief glance, and blush, directed at Sakura, though it seemed like she had. Sakura was absorbed in her own thoughts, staring off into the middle distance. "But I guess that kinda makes sense. What does-?"
He looked at Fuu and then paused, obviously realizing that Fuu hadn't shared her relationship with Chomei with Jiraiya and Konan. Fuu looked back cluelessly before her eyes went wide and she stuttered.
"Oh, w-well, I mean, I guess…" she said, and then paused, doubtlessly listening to an inner voice. Sasuke almost facepalmed at how obvious it was: Jiraiya and Konan were both staring at her with evident curiosity. "I mean I don't know anything about that. I mean I know where kids come from, obviously. I think. What I, is that, uh, when it comes to a guy like the Sage of Six Paths-" She grew more and more flustered under the attention. "Anyway, I wouldn't have anything to say about that. I don't know, I guess, there's nothing extra that I do know-"
"Thanks Fuu," Sasuke said, cutting off the most embarrassing attempt at lying that he'd ever seen. She gave him a look that was equally sweaty and relieved. "We get it."
"I'm gonna go climb a tree," she abruptly announced, and immediately did just that, retreating from the conversation. Konan watched her go with a confused and pitying look.
"Waterfall did a terrible job of socializing her," she eventually decided, and Sasuke couldn't help but nod in agreement. "Not that your brother helped, I imagine."
"On that," Sasuke said, "there's one extra problem, I think."
"Oh good," Konan said dryly. "I was worried there were too few."
"Itachi returned a Sharingan he'd stolen to Obito-sensei right before Cloud's attack," Sasuke said, ignoring the Amekage's sarcasm. Everyone perked up, and he continued. "It was the eye of Shisui Uchiha, sensei's brother. It was a Mangekyo as well, and contained a powerful genjutsu. I never got all the details about it from the clan, but it was called the Kotoamatsukami. Apparently it was unbelievably strong and undetectable, long-lasting hypnosis meant to permanently alter people's behavior."
"No doubt what Itachi intended to use on Nagato in their personal meeting, then," Konan noted. "But he returned it before he got the chance?"
"Obito told me he said it had been used up," Sasuke said, paraphrasing a strange and terrifying conversation. "Meaning he used it a bunch. We figured it was how he pulled off the attack on Waterfall, but it made me worry about Black Zetsu again. Itachi told me he didn't mean to kill Shisui; that it just happened, and he took his eye on instinct. I think Black Zetsu was the one that wanted the Kotoamatsukami, not Itachi, and with him not remembering a whole year, plus Fuu being held captive by him all that time…"
"You think Fuu's been hypnotized?" Sakura asked, and Sasuke nodded.
"She was hypnotized. She and that other Jinchuriki from Cloud, plus who knows how many others. Even if she seems fine now, there might be some sort of delayed command implanted in her." He held his hands up helplessly. "I doubt there's anything we can do about it. It's just something to keep in mind. Itachi would have been stupid to not put a command on her to protect him, for example. Just little things we need to keep an eye out for."
Konan sighed. "Nagato examined both Fuu and Yugito Nii," she said. "Searching for exactly such things. But he didn't find anything. Either your brother didn't make those safeguards, or this genjutsu was beyond the Rinnegan's perception. Neither are comforting." But after a moment, she waved them off. "But there's nothing to do about it now. It's just another threat we must consider."
"Is Yugito still alive?" Sakura asked, and Konan nodded.
"Alive and imprisoned. Initially, she was seen as a negotiating chip with Cloud. Now… I'm not sure, to be honest," she admitted. "She's achieved mastery of her beast, like Fuu and Gaara. In that sense, killing her would be a shame. But I doubt she could be turned against Kumogakure. Nagato hasn't changed his mind. Maybe he's waiting to see how the war goes before he does."
They all sat on that for a moment. Sasuke wondered if Cloud's Jinchuriki had the same kind of relationship with their Beast that Fuu had managed with Chomei. Were Tailed Beasts cooperating with their hosts more common than any of them could have known, or had the woman really managed to dominate the Bijuu on her own?
"Was there anything else, Sasuke?" Konan eventually asked, breaking the fugue. He shook his head.
"No," he said, and when Konan rose everyone followed after her.
"I thank you for sharing this," she said, maybe slightly too formally. "It doesn't seem like I'll be much assistance with your brother, Sasuke. To be truthful with you, if I see him again, I will kill him." She smiled sourly. "But if he really was manipulated by forces beyond his control, I wish you the best of luck in freeing him. No one deserves that fate."
"Thank you, Konan," Sasuke said with a brief bow, and though there were some lingering conversations from there the conference split. Naruto retrieved Fuu, Jiraiya departed with Konan to speak with her further, and Sasuke and Sakura were left by themselves for a time.
"Don't worry, Sasuke," she told him, and he gave her a grateful smile. There were times when Sakura's eyes burned with certainty that made him feel like anything was possible, and this was one of them. "We'll get that shadow. I guarantee it."
###
They arrived at the outskirts of Hakoda the next day, and Sasuke was sent on an unusual scouting mission. By now, Kumogakure was well aware of Rain's air superiority, but there still wasn't much they could do about it: anti-air ninjutsu were rare, techniques that allowed flight rarer, and so for now Amegakure's forces still held mastery of the skies. Because of that, Sasuke had been unsure of whether Konan would immediately order an attack on the city and the military forces that were massing inside it, but once again the Amekage had prioritized Frost's civilian population and trade infrastructure over a more decisive military action.
That was why on the clear-skied morning of May 3rd Sasuke was a thousand feet in the air, being hoisted by Fuu once more as they circled the city center of Hakoda. With his Sharingan active, Sasuke scanned the city from above, taking every detail in and committing everything to memory. It wasn't a strategy he would have thought of himself; he just didn't take air power for granted the way Konan did. But being utilized like some sort of futuristic spying, flying camera appealed to him in an amusing way. This was something only an Uchiha could do, even if Hinata could have done it much better.
Hakoda was a massive city, easily the size of Amegakure and the main port for the eastern side of the Land of Frost. Suburbs sprawled around it into the heavily forested mountains for miles, and tremendously expensive beachfront mansions and resorts dotted the shore where industrial and commercial docks didn't pierce out into the water. It had dozens of buildings that were multiple stories, some towering to a hundred feet and beyond; a flourishing commercial center that was untouched by war.
It reminded Sasuke of Fukami City to an uncomfortable degree. He hoped, so much that it burned, that Hakoda wouldn't meet the same fate.
"Still good, Sasuke?" Fuu asked cheerfully, and he gave her a thumbs-up, not shifting his focus from the city below. Konan had charged him with picking out every possible garrison and defensive center in the city, and while he was doing that, it wasn't the main thing that was taking up much of his attention.
He was far more focused on the harbor, and the frenzied activity taking place there. Dozens of ships, large ones, had been massed in the artificial bay constructed on the city's south-eastern side. They ran a full gamut of type and use: cruise ships with colorful flags, iron military vessels with mounted cannons, private yachts of gaudy colors, massive fishing barges covered in netting, and far more beyond. However, all of them were swarming with shinobi and government soldiers making preparations, storing weapons and supplies and removing unnecessary equipment.
From what Sasuke was seeing, Cloud was planning a naval assault. More than that, they were planning an obvious naval assault, making little to no effort to conceal their preparations. Such a thing was practically unheard of in the history of shinobi warfare. They had obviously press-ganged dozens of ships, fifty-eight by his count, and were transforming the civilian ones into ad-hoc carriers. He couldn't understand it. Fighting the Hidden Mist in their preferred environment was obviously stupid; doing it with a ramshackle fleet was insane. Konan had speculated Hakoda was the base for an attack intended to knock Kirigakure out of the war, but was this really Cloud's plan?
No, he decided, tapping Fuu and signaling her to head west. It probably wasn't a feint, considering how much effort was being put in, but there were factors he was missing here. Cloud must have had other weapons like the cannon or specialized jutsu that made this assault feasible. Just because they hadn't been deployed in Frost already, did not mean they didn't exist. Cloud's ninja weren't stupid, and they didn't throw their lives away without purpose. Most likely, the colorful fleet really was a threat to Kirigakure, and Konan had to be notified right away.
"Did they see us?" she asked, noticing his urgency.
"Yeah," Sasuke confirmed. While he'd been memorizing the fleet, he'd noticed ninja mobilizing from the rooftops. Two full squads, moving quickly and heading towards them across the city, though he'd quickly lost them when they'd dipped down to street level. "Most likely a sensor jutsu. There's at least six of them, and more will probably be coming." Cloud had to know that taking out Amegakure's flyers was critical: he wouldn't be surprised if twenty ninja were sent after them, considering how many were in Hakoda right now.
"Well, we can't lead them back to everyone," Fuu said, pouting as they buzzed west away from the rising sun. "Should we land and fight 'em?"
"Do you think you can take that many?" Sasuke asked, and Fuu gave an enthusiastic nod.
"Probably! Besides, it's not like we have much of a choice," she said. "We don't have to kill them, after all. Just gotta make sure they can't follow us, right?"
She was right. Fuu was fast when she was flying, but not so fast they'd be able to completely outplace ninja pursuing them along the ground. And Sasuke didn't like the idea of the Rain contingent getting counterattacked as they lurked on Hakoda's outskirts. Cloud so completely outnumbered them now that even if they had ninja like Konan, Jiraiya, and Deidara, the main force would probably still be wiped out.
"Alright," he said, directing her down. "Past that neighborhood, then. Let's draw them as far into the forest as possible."
Fuu landed fast and hard, and she and Sasuke scrambled into cover in short order, concealing themselves as they waited for their pursuers to arrive. It wasn't a perfect ambush, but it was the best they could manage on short notice, and Sasuke was confident they were equipped enough to escape the Kumo ninja if worse came to worst.
They lurked in the trees for thirty seconds, prepared to make contact at any moment.
Nothing came.
They waited for another thirty seconds, sure that the Cloud ninja were creeping up on them, silently approaching their position with aid from their sensor jutsu. Sasuke began to consider if they had made a tactical error. Maybe it had been arrogant of them to stand and fight; maybe they should have just run until they'd lost them completely before returning to Sakura, Naruto, and the rest. They'd grown used to trying to pick off enemy ninja piecemeal, and now their bad habits were going to get them in serious trouble. Maybe even killed.
Nothing came.
They waited for another thirty seconds, growing confused. One way or another, by now an ambush should have sprung. Either by them, or upon them. What were their pursuers doing? Had they just given up and gone home, paranoid about wandering into a larger force? It seemed unlikely, given they had access to sensory jutsu.
After a final thirty seconds, Fuu stood up from the treetop she had concealed herself in, putting her hands on her hips and blowing a raspberry. "Where the heck did they go?" she asked, but Sasuke didn't answer. He sank deeper in the underbrush, concealing his presence to the point he may as well have been a corpse. His instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out what.
"I'm gonna go check it out," Fuu said, and Sasuke breathed out, a whisper that only she would be able to hear.
"Stay," he breathed, and Fuu actually paused at the intensity in his voice. "Something's wrong."
Fuu stayed, and they both became one with the forest, stretching their senses to the limit as they searched for their pursuers. The local wildlife was still there; the birds and deer that were everywhere in the Land of Frost hadn't fled. If something had happened, even the animals hadn't noticed it. But a moment later a breeze blew through the forest, and an acrid smell came with it. Sasuke breathed deeply, knowing the scent before his brain fully recognized it.
Blood.
As soon as the breeze passed, a steady sound followed after it. Something was being dragged over grass and dirt, and drawing closer by the second. Sasuke sank back into himself, making himself small and unnoticeable, becoming just another rabbit hiding in the undergrowth.
Gradually, a figure became visible between the trees. It was a towering man, at least seven feet tall and broad as a horse. Something huge and shapeless was slung across his back, and he was pulling a body behind him, not bothering to conceal the sound of the lifeless corpse bumping against trees and flattening the grass beneath it.
He was covered in blood, so much that his skin looked red. As Sasuke watched, not breathing, the unknown ninja threw the corpse forward, letting it roll across the ground to the foot of the tree Fuu was hiding in. It was a Cloud ninja with pale skin and bright hair, and the man's chest had been torn open and shredded beyond hope of recovery.
"Come out," the ninja rumbled with a grin that was anything but reassuring. His teeth were like Suigetsu's, Sasuke thought. Filed, comically sharp, triangular like a shark's. "You're not the ones I'm hunting. I just want to talk."
Sasuke didn't dare move, and Fuu wisely did the same. The man didn't wear a headband; he was a rogue, and obviously a tremendously dangerous one. They had no reason to trust his word. Besides that, the ninja's presence couldn't be mistaken. Obito, the Fourth Hokage, Nagato, Sasori, Orochimaru, Itachi: those were the only shinobi Sasuke knew that had carried this unmistakable fatal gravity with them. This man was completely out of his league.
The ninja shrugged and sat down, blood dripping off of him onto the grass. He crossed his arms, looking around with an irritated expression. "I know you're here somewhere," he said matter of factly. "So we can sit together for a while, if that's what you want. It's a waste of time though." He picked something out of his teeth, and Sasuke couldn't help but imagine it was human flesh: the man's presence was just that monstrously intimidating. "I'm betting you're the Hidden Rain. Mist doesn't have anyone that can fly like that. I was happy to stay out of your fuckers' way, but things are going to get serious. Well, more serious. A little communication couldn't hurt."
He snorted. "Actually, it might, but things aren't exactly going great for Frost right now. It's worth the risk, don't you think?"
Sasuke still didn't respond, and Fuu followed his lead. The ninja growled like a wild boar. "Look, I'm trying to be nice here. If you're not in charge, I'll find you and torture you until you lead me to whoever is. I'm not a patient man; make a damn decision."
As far as Sasuke and his Sharingan could tell, the man wasn't lying; either about being their enemy, or torturing them if they didn't reveal themselves. He made the executive decision, the kind of decision he'd been promoted to make in the first place, and stood up, revealing himself. The rogue locked onto him like a bloodhound, his head snapping towards Sasuke's position the millisecond he moved at all.
"Stay hidden," he commanded, and Fuu obeyed, obviously just as worried as him. The rogue scoffed, and Sasuke stepped forward despite his body screaming at him that he was approaching a dangerous predator. The bloodsoaked ninja's eyes were drawn to his own, and Sasuke saw the spark of recognition at the Sharingan in them. He was glad he hadn't activated his Mangekyo; Obito had told him plenty of stories of ninja trying to steal his unique eyes. "I'm here. What do you want?"
"An Uchiha?" the man said, looking him up and down and not seeming impressed. He stayed seated, obviously not seeing Sasuke as any sort of threat. "I didn't know Rain had any of you."
"Just me," Sasuke said, his throat dry. "I'm Sasuke. You?"
"Kisame," the rogue said, uncrossing his arms and leaning forward. "You're lucky, Sasuke. I don't mind Uchiha too much, so you'll do. So you're with the Nation of Rain?"
"I am," he said, indicating his headband.
"Great. Take me to your leader," Kisame demanded, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"You can understand why I'd be hesitant to do that," he said, and Kisame shrugged.
"Sure. But I don't give a fuck. I don't wanna talk with some middleman who'll twist my words around to make themselves look better," he said, a dark look in his beady eyes. "I have things to say to whoever is in charge of you all, and no one else."
"What kind of things?" Sasuke said, and Kisame smiled, looking for all the world like a greedy shark.
"Is this how you want to do this?" he said as he stood up, somewhat similar to a fallen tree righting itself. "I already told you-"
"If you want to cooperate, threatening me isn't the way to do it," Sasuke said bluntly, feeling a bit of perhaps unearned confidence. "I can tell my commander that you want to speak to her, and have her meet you somewhere. But we're not going to take you back to the main force." He spread his hands, giving the towering man a frank grimace. "You're obviously dangerous. I couldn't lead you to my allies in good conscience. Tell me where and when you want to meet her, and I will pass the message along."
Kisame stalked forward, glowering down at him, but Sasuke held his ground. He heard Fuu shift above, and Kisame obviously did as well, but the man completely ignored the Jinchuriki despite her sudden spike of intense chakra, glaring down at Sasuke from barely a foot away.
He held the stare for several crushing seconds, then chuckled and backed away, circling around and looking up at the tree Fuu was hidden in.
"You Uchiha all know each other, right," he said abruptly, and Sasuke didn't immediately answer. "Close-knit, secretive bastards. That kind of clan."
"Generally," Sasuke said without committing, and Kisame sneered at the non-answer.
"Obito Uchiha," he said, and Sasuke stilled his surprise at his sensei's name spilling from the blood-soaked ninja's lips. "You know him?"
"He's my teacher," Sasuke said, not sure if he was signing his death warrant with honesty but feeling coldly sure that lying would be dangerous, and Kisame stopped, looking back at him suspiciously.
"Ran off to Rain," he muttered, starting to pace again. "You're one of the brats he talked about. You, and the pink one, and the Hokage's son, huh? Are you all here, or have they dropped out of the race?"
"You've met him?" Sasuke asked, shocked at the invisible connection the rogue had suddenly revealed between them. Obito was a prolific guy, sure, but when would he have had a chance to meet someone like this? It must have been after they'd left Konoha; Kisame even seemed to know Sakura and Naruto.
"We had a nice conversation," Kisame said without a hint of irony, which only raised more questions. "He was an upright guy. Didn't even try to kill me, even after a bad first impression." He stopped, a crooked grin creeping across his face. "Did you learn that from him, Sasuke Uchiha? Are you an upright guy?"
Sasuke found himself pondering the question more than he probably should have. He got the feeling that what Kisame considered an 'upright guy' was someone who was like Obito: honest, principled, kind. The paradox of that impression coming from a guy literally covered in blood was a little too much for him.
"I try to be," he said. Kisame snorted.
"What do you think ninja are good for?" the rogue asked, and Sasuke was thrown once more. Not once in this conversation had he felt like he'd fully held the initiative. He couldn't square the philosophical question with the threat of torture, the offer of cooperation, and the connection with Obito. It was just too strange. Kisame was testing him as only a lone deranged shinobi could; it might be that if he answered wrong, he'd kill him, even if he apparently liked his sensei.
Tired of calculating, Sasuke decided to surrender to the situation, and answered from the heart.
"Killing other ninja," he said bluntly. "I've heard a lot of people dress it up, but since Cloud attacked Rain, it seems like that's all ninja do. Kill each other, and kill people who end up in the way."
"Damn right," Kisame said with a toothy grin and a mocking clap. "But you still think you're trying to be an upright guy?"
"I was raised this way," Sasuke said. "I'm doing the best with what I have: I'm trying to keep my friends safe, and I'm trying to make sure Cloud can't ever do what it did again. Is that good enough for you?"
"You know what?" Kisame shot back without hesitation. He crossed his arms, rooting himself in place. "It is, you earnest little shit. You two really are cut from the same damn cloth."
Not able to tell if he was being praised or insulted, Sasuke stood there without saying a word. Eventually, Kisame spoke once more.
"Get your boss, and tell her to meet me here as soon as she can. You guys would be idiots to let Cloud launch their attack on Mist without resistance, and I doubt Kirigakure has roped you in on their defense plans. They never learned how to share their toys, especially with outsiders." He chuckled to himself, but Sasuke didn't find it particularly funny. "But I've been fighting by myself for a long time now; maybe teaming up will be fun, just for the novelty."
Sasuke didn't move until Kisame made a dismissive gesture, flinging droplets of blood across the grass from his fingertips. "Go on. Promise. Even if you turn your backs, I won't chase." His smile, so like Suigetsu's, made Sasuke twitch. "Plenty of time for that later."
Sasuke left without another word, and Fuu followed right behind him, zipping from tree to tree before jumping down to run side by side with him. He glanced over at her, finding her grinning and pale.
"Wow!" she whispered. "That guy's terrifying! What's his deal?"
"I have no idea," Sasuke said, already running through the implications of the meeting and what exactly he would say to Konan. Hey, there's an incredibly powerful rogue ninja that's volunteering to help us fight Cloud? Just like Itachi, actually, isn't it weird how I keep attracting them to us? It's like I'm magnetic or something.
He found himself laughing, and Fuu laughed along with him despite not knowing what was running through his head, just feeding off their shared relief. They giggled together as they raced through the forest, and the manic sound only barely broke off before they rejoined the rest of Rain's ninja.
###
The daylight hours passed quickly and without violence. Rain, Mist, and Cloud made their plans for the inevitable battle that evening. Konan met with Kisame, a short and tense meeting which secured his cooperation with Rain for the immediate future. Amegakure had attempted to recruit the rogue ninja many years before, but had given up after both their agents sent to do so had been killed: their bodies had never been recovered. Konan remembered this, but she was a superb ninja, and ninja were excellent at putting aside grudges in the face of a shared enemy.
The forces massing for what would become known as the Battle of Hakoda were some of the most dangerous and impressive in the history of shinobi warfare. The battle would have five sides: the Nation of Rain, the Hidden Cloud, the Hidden Mist, and two separate rogue ninja powerful enough to be considered military forces on their own. It would feature more than twelve-hundred ninja, nine of which were S-Rank, and would involve four of the nine Tailed Beasts, more than had ever participated in a single battle before.
At seven pm precisely, with the sun half-vanished and painting the ocean a bloody red, the Hidden Cloud's cludged-together navy set sail for the southern isles that constituted the Land of Water and the Village Hidden in the Mist, intent on destroying their rival village's military power and any hope of them continuing to fight the war. Eight hundred and fifty ninja of Kumogakure were part of the attack fleet, either ferried by ships or running atop the water alongside them, though several hundred of them were carried by something infinitely more grand than man-made ships. They were shadowed at a distance from the air by the forces of the Nation of Rain, beneath the waves by Kisame Hoshigaki, and by Itachi Uchiha, who simply moved across the sea like a living shadow.
Thirty minutes into their journey, with the city of Hakoda a bright blur on the horizon, they were met by the forces of the Hidden Mist.
The Hidden Mist's defense force was the best it could muster: three hundred ninja, an enormous commitment by the village's ninja after the five-hundred and fifty it had already dispatched to the Land of Frost. Outnumbered nearly three to one, they nonetheless assaulted Cloud's navy with desperate and vicious strength, knowing that defending their village directly would leave Kirigakure's already battered infrastructure and population too damaged to continue. Rain and the rogue ninja entered the battle almost immediately after it was joined, which prompted Cloud to enact its true plan.
Fought atop the greedy and pitiless sea, naval battles could be nightmares: shinobi naval battles were the stuff nightmares could only dream to be. By the battle's conclusion, the fate of the Land of Frost and the course of shinobi history would be decided.
###
Following from high above, even Sasuke couldn't pinpoint the exact moment the battle began. One moment, Cloud's flotilla was pressing forward; the next, a massive fog bank whipped up out of nowhere, fires and bursts of lightning began to break out, and the battle was well underway.
There was no ritual or grandeur to it. At the same time, a massive shape reared up before the fleet, appearing in a burst of red-tinged smoke and letting out a massive roar. It was a familiar sound, the same bone-shaking announcement that Sasuke had heard back in the Hidden Leaf: the Sanbi had been unleashed. Mist clearly hadn't had the time or need to reseal it into a new Jinchuriki. Instead, the Tailed Beast was unleashed directly into the fleet, plowing ahead in a rage like a runaway train and smashing the foremost ship to pieces in seconds. Mist ninja leapt out of the water like well-armed fish and Kumo's shinobi swarmed to meet them, pouring out of the carriers they'd constructed and engaging in a brutal life or death struggle atop the churning white and red waters that the sea was quickly becoming.
"Go."
Konan gave the command and nearly sixty ninja dove down out of the sky, screaming down on the fleet from more than a mile away and two-thousand feet up. Just like at Kushiro, some had been granted paper wings, while others rode with Fuu or upon Deidara's constructs. Sasuke was one of the latter, tightly gripping the shoulder of the former Stone ninja. Deidara was muttering to himself, unintelligible words spilling out of him as his chakra spurred the clay dragon onwards.
"They know we're coming." Nonō was the passenger right behind Sasuke, and he shifted to hear her against the rushing wind. "Did you feel that?"
He had: there was an enormously powerful sensor with the fleet, or perhaps several, and their invisible eyes had swept across all of them. With remarkable coordination, the rearmost ships began to turn to guard against the Rain assault. Others were spinning towards unseen enemies; perhaps more Mist shinobi, or either of the rogue ninja that had determined Cloud to be their enemy.
The display just made Sasuke more confused, and that confusion stretched like a rubber band ready to snap as the moment of contact drew closer and closer. Even with this ramshackle fleet, Cloud's command and control with a large number of ninja was almost miraculous. From what his Sharingan could see it was just as effective as Konoha's own reliance on long-distance telepathy, which spoke to a remarkable amount of discipline and training.
So why throw themselves into the teeth of two Hidden Villages? They were missing critical information, but it was too late to fret about that now.
"Off you go!" Deidara said gleefully. Thirty ninja leapt from his dragon, including Sasuke, widely dropped in along the breadth of the fleet. Naruto and Sakura were elsewhere, gifted with wings along with Jiraiya, but Nonō was right behind Sasuke, and they landed less than ten feet apart in the churning seas.
Their aim wasn't complicated: sinking the fleet was the first and only priority. Sasuke threw a fireball into the hull of the nearest ship, expecting it to blow a hole in the waterline and drown it in short order.
Instead, his jutsu was intercepted; a lightning bolt burned clean through it and then impossibly redirected before hitting the ocean, flinging itself in Sasuke's direction. If it weren't for the Sharingan, it would have struck him head-on: instead, he just barely leapt out of the way, slamming into the side of another ship and scrambling up the hull as he searched for the source of the impossibly precise jutsu.
Nonō had gone the other way, and Sasuke saw her target as he reached the deck of the ship, a half-dozen Cloud shinobi all coming for him at once. None of them made him worry half as much as the ninja he saw on the deck of the opposite ship, the source of the self-guiding lightning bolt.
As Sasuke started fighting for his life, the cloaked man called out to him, ignoring Nonō as she approached him and cut an intercepting Cloud ninja's throat with a chakra scalpel.
"This is a lucky day, Uchiha," Kakuzu the Immortal rumbled, his deep voice distinct even over the sound of countless explosions, screams, and the roar of the Sanbi as it rampaged deeper into the fleet. "I think you'll be just what I needed."
Nonō and Sasuke were both engaged in fights with multiple ninja, nightmare scenarios only made worse by the rocking of the ocean, the threat of collateral damage, and the general chaos of the sudden battle. However, Kakuzu thankfully continued to ignore Nonō; he bent down and leapt, the deck under his feet shattering with the force of the leap, and covered the eighty feet between his ship and Sasuke's in the blink of an eye.
Sasuke swept one man's feet from under him, broke another's nose with a precise elbow, and then Kakuzu was there and Sasuke was immediately stuck in an even more intense hand-to-hand battle. The ninja was huge and fast, and beneath his cloak even Sasuke's Sharingan couldn't fully predict the movement of his limbs: they seemed longer than they should be, striking out with inhuman speed and bending at impossible angles. Kakuzu's chakra surged and burst with every blow, but it was less the movement of living chakra and more like a nest of vipers wildly writhing, coiling and uncoiling to a rhythm Sasuke couldn't find. He took two nasty hits in short order, one to the ear and another to the solar plexus, but was trying to give as good as he could get.
The other Cloud ninja backed up, unwilling to get caught in the middle of such a fierce fight or busy with other enemies, and Sasuke tried to regain the initiative.
"I thought you were dead," he hissed through gritted teeth, throwing himself into a series of whirling kicks and trying to knock Kakuzu's head off. One, two, three, four, five in a row, each redirected with unerring precision by the mercenary. A Rasengan formed like a violet apple in Sasuke's hand. "Didn't you already die, what, four times?"
"Any shinobi can fake their death," Kakuzu said, catching Sasuke's wrist and flipping him to the ground. He struggled, trying to kick his way back to his feet, but Kakuzu continued to catch or redirect every blow, his burning green eyes glaring down at Sasuke. "You were working with your brother, I'm sure. It was a nice show you two put up back in Waterfall, but don't think it could fool someone like me."
"Just a coincidence," Sasuke grunted, giving up on rising and switching to grappling. He twisted around the arm and pulled, confident that he could at least shatter the elbow and break free.
Instead, Kakuzu's limb bent like rubber; Sasuke realized in an instant that he'd miscalculated.
The mercenary didn't have any bones to break.
"Which is why Itachi's here as well," Kakuzu said dryly, lifting Sasuke up with one arm. He tossed him up and caught him by the throat, and didn't flinch even when Sasuke seized a knife from his vest and stabbed it deep into his wrist, twisting it to destroy the muscle. "I can feel him."
String and ichor erupted from the wound, wrapping around Sasuke's mouth and head, and he kicked out, eyes wide as fear pounded through his body. It was just like with Orochimaru: the thing he was fighting wasn't human, it just looked like one. He needed the Rasenyarinage, the only jutsu in his arsenal that could destroy a twisted body like Kakuzu's, but there was no chance of him managing it now. The mercenary's grip tightened, and the world started going dark as Sasuke felt the man's hand settle over his heart.
"Do you think he'll come running if I rip this out?" Kakuzu said, the contempt in his eyes deeper than the ocean. "Or was he just using his little brother too?"
Black flames erupted across Kakuzu's back without warning, and he hissed in pain. Sasuke didn't question it: he just swung upwards with desperate strength, blue flames erupting across his kunai in an imitation of his mother's technique. The flame-blade sheared right through Kakuzu's arm and Sasuke fell away, the kunai crumbling to ash in his hands.
However, even disconnected from his body, Kakuzu's hand kept squeezing, determined to choke the life out of Sasuke even as the man turned away with impossible flames flickering across his body and stared up at his new target, murderous chakra flaring out of him and splintering the polished wooden deck all across the ship. Sasuke tried to rip the hand off, on the edge of consciousness as he scrambled away, and slowly but surely the residual chakra and life in the hand faded, leaving him just barely able to pry it off his throat.
"I don't suppose I could pay you to forget about this," Itachi said. His brother had appeared from nowhere as he always did, casually resting on the guard-rail up near the bridge of the ship as the commanding Cloud ninja looked on, bewildered. Kakuzu slowly shook his head, the body beneath the cloak squirming as the Amaterasu ate away at it and revealed what was beneath.
Sasuke sucked in a breath, revolted. Orochimaru's pale, alien body filled with eyes and bones had been grotesque: Kakuzu's was a corpse stitched together, tendrils of black worms wriggling out of every orifice and questing out of the stitches, screeching to escape the fire. Five masks of intricate design were placed across the body, and as he and Itachi watched one of them cracked and turned to ash as Kakuzu's body split: he stepped out of the husk of his old form like a snake shedding its skin, leaving the Amaterasu and the ashen mask behind. The black flames began to slowly but surely spread across the deck, sending Cloud ninja running to abandon ship.
"I know it was you that made me put grudges above good money," Kakuzu growled, truly growling, sounding nothing like a human being. "Unfortunately for you, that hasn't changed."
"Hmm," Itachi said, glancing at Sasuke and shrugging. "Alright then."
Kakuzu threw himself forward, and Itachi danced back; for a moment, Sasuke was paralyzed between fighting alongside his brother and escaping the rapidly spreading Amaterasu, before Itachi glanced at him.
An invisible genjutsu wormed across the space between them, and Sasuke heard his brother's voice like he was standing right next to him.
"Go on," Itachi said. "I've killed him twice already, after all."
This wasn't the time to go after Black Zetsu; Sasuke realized that was the real source of his hesitation and he turned and ran, leaping over a curtain of black flames and diving down into the churning waves. The water was red, he realized after a moment, and full of ninja and animals both. Summons were everywhere: octopi, turtles, dolphins, squids, and sharks battling for dominance and tearing each other apart, as well as any ninja that were unlucky enough to fall into the midst of them. Sasuke darted about like a fish himself, breaching and flinging himself up onto the half-shattered hull of a neighboring ship, looking around as he found himself in the center of the hurricane.
The fleet was in disarray: the Sanbi had made its way to the center and was flailing about in a rage, swamping ships with huge waves as ninja from all sides fought on its back. Fuu, Deidara, and Konan were still fighting from the air, throwing down bombs, flinging paper projectiles and assistance, and swooping down like a bird of prey to scoop up Cloud ninja. Even in the midst of Kakuzu's battle with Itachi, a lightning bolt burst from the fracas and was once again impossibly redirected, piercing right through the heart of Deidara's dragon and leaving it falling from the sky like a dead bird. Deidara leapt from its back with a lunatic's shout, a spread of explosives blasting two ships to pieces as he landed on the water and spat out a swordfish that took off with a burst of speed, carving between the ships of the fleet with the ninja clinging to its back and laughing madly.
A Rain ninja fell past him, both arms severed and the top of his head gone, and Sasuke's eyes were drawn down back towards the ocean. He blinked, not sure what he was seeing. Countless fish were bubbling to the surface, strange misshapen things he'd never seen before; their bodies had been burst by some unspeakable pressure. Was there another invisible battle happening below, or was there another source?
A hundred feet away, a ship was cut in half as a blade of ice and water whickered out and split it; Sakura and Naruto were over there, he was sure, probably fighting with Jiraiya. The way things were going it seemed like Cloud was losing, but fighting hard for it; at this rate, both forces would be completely destroyed.
The flames of the Amaterasu had spread completely across the ship Itachi and Kakuzu were dueling on now, transforming it into a gladiatorial arena like something out of an ancient empire. The ship groaned and cracked, on the verge of disintegrating as the two S-rank ninja battled across it. In a fight between ninja like this, the battle would often be decided by the first mistake, and its length would be determined solely by how long that mistake took.
Here, now, Sasuke saw it happen with the crystal clear clarity that only his eyes could offer.
His brother was faster than Kakuzu and more decisive, and the Immortal was losing the battle by degrees as Itachi chipped away at his defenses with fire jutsu and exploding clones. He was staunchly avoiding Itachi's eyes, and Sasuke knew in his gut that must have been how Kakuzu had been dispatched the first time; his body, as strange as it was, still had a chakra system, so the Tsukuyomi would spell his defeat without question. He had sensory jutsu of some kind, but fighting without looking at your opponent was difficult no matter what, and so Itachi was hemming him into a corner, bringing him closer to the ever-spreading Amaterasu that would end him.
Kakuzu grew desperate, striking back more ferociously with whip-like arms and nearly punching a hole clean through Itachi with a wind jutsu that resembled an incorporeal spear. But in the decisive moment, he spun to deliver a blast of fire, the masks all across his body wriggling, and Itachi was there to meet him, locking eyes from less than a foot away.
Sasuke saw the Tsukuyomi fire off like a brilliant coherent beam of black light, and it struck Kakuzu right in the eye, ripping through his chakra system with savage disregard. The shock of such a strong genjutsu would incapacitate him for hours, regardless of his mental toughness; the battle was over. His brother relaxed, just by the smallest of fractions, as Kakuzu teetered and began to collapse back into the black flames.
But it wasn't Kakuzu's recklessness that had been the mistake.
It was Itachi's moment of relaxation.
Kakuzu's stumble turned to certainty, and neither Sasuke nor his brother had a prayer of reacting as the Immortal kicked. It was a jutsu done without visible handsigns, but not a very dangerous one; it created a massive gust of wind that ripped Itachi off his feet, flinging him nearly a hundred feet straight up and leaving him in sight of the whole battlefield. Sasuke felt in his heart that it wasn't only his own disbelieving eyes that were drawn up to his brother as Kakuzu leapt after him; for a moment, the whole battle paused, every eye drawn to the two S-rank ninja at the apex of it all.
The Immortal reared up as his hands clasped together in a brutish double-fist, his body horrifically bulky as strings formed into muscles so oversized they burst the skin in places, exposing more ichor. Itachi was already going through a counter-jutsu, and flaming shuriken ripped gaping holes in Kakuzu's body in several places.
But it didn't stop him. One of the masks shattered, but Kakuzu still brought both fists down in a hammer blow; Itachi barely had enough time to guard his head with both arms.
The impact was so loud that it was clear despite the distance and clamor; Sasuke watched as one of Itachi's arms splintered, the bone piercing through the skin. His brother was thrown down into the ocean with such tremendous force that it was a wonder he wasn't splattered across the sea: instead, he bored a hole straight through the water, plunging down more than two-hundred feet and beyond even Sasuke's sight before the impact hole closed with an enormous CRASH and a huge spray of water that fountained so high that it soaked every ship in the fleet, raining down living and dead fish, ninja, and summons across the battlefield.
Sasuke was so shocked that he had no idea what to think. How could Kakuzu have neutralized the Tsukuyomi? Was his brother dead? Was Black Zetsu dead? Could the thing drown? No, it probably didn't have lungs, so suffocation or drowning would be impossible. But the same didn't go for Itachi. He had competing urges to dive after his brother and rejoin the battle, but the choice was impossible; to lose him so soon after learning he could be saved would be painful beyond words.
Fortunately, someone made the decision for him. Nonō slammed into the hull next to him, her face and hands covered in blood.
"Sasuke," she said curtly. "Snap out of it." A flash of light burst out on the other side of the fleet, so huge and blinding that even Sasuke was left with a burn on his vision for several seconds. "We're still-"
There was another tremendous roar, and Sasuke's attention was split once more.
On either side of the fleet, two huge monsters were emerging from the sea.
To the south, something poked up out of the water without form or color. Toxic gas spewed off and fouled the waters around it, turning them sickly purple and green. It lurched forward, its touch melting the nearest ship and sending all the ninja fighting atop it fleeing into the water, where all those that didn't wear Mist's mark collapsed, spasming and dying as the toxins filling the air overcame them. It was, essentially, a massive slug, and it only took a glance for Sasuke to understand that this was Kirigakure's trump card: their second Tailed Beast, the Rokubi. It was here to finish what the Sanbi had started, and bury Cloud's assault at sea.
But just seconds later as the rumbling continued, something breached to the north, crashing down upon the Sanbi and crushing it under its bulk. It was massive, like a moving mountain, and Sasuke stared without comprehension at the impossible sight.
It wasn't a Tailed Beast, though it looked like the one it had just crushed into the depths. It was a turtle; a massive turtle that was surely several thousand feet long and had a small mountain atop its back, a mountain covered in fortifications: a mobile, underwater fortress had just breached south of the fleet, and now across the entire battlefield Cloud ninja were retreating towards it with mad urgency.
Sasuke blinked, everything coming together. An island turtle. This was an island turtle, just like Jiraiya had told them about. If what he'd said about them growing to be miles long was true, this one was quite young, but it was working with the Hidden Cloud, serving them as a living carrier base.
And it was a true ninja fortress. Some shinobi had launched attacks at it as it surfaced, mainly Deidara who was airborne once more, but even the ninja's deadly explosives had been turned away by an invisible barrier technique that covered the whole turtle. It only took a moment of analysis for Sasuke to determine its purpose: keeping out danger (including the pressure of the sea), and letting in friendly ninja. Not a very complicated technique, but powerful for that simplicity, and more than enough to turn away most attackers. Getting inside would probably be as simple as stealing a Cloud headband, but then you'd be fighting an entrenched enemy on their own fortifications… and if the turtle submerged once more, you'd be trapped behind the barrier with the enemy.
This was what they had missed. The fleet had been a distraction, meant to bait out a counterattack that this island turtle fortress would then crush. Cloud had outplayed both their opponents, relying on their desperation to blind them.
But still, Sasuke thought. Even if it was an impressive fortress, there were three Tailed Beasts here, all of them fighting against Kumo. If they thought the turtle wouldn't be killed, the fortress destroyed, they were delusional. The forces arrayed against them were just too dangerous; at best, it would be mutual destruction.
So why-?
"Nonō," he said, suddenly filled with cold certainty. "We've got to get out of here."
"Sasuke?" she said, glancing over at him. Just like him, she'd been putting the pieces together, but her conclusion had been different. She was an experienced ninja that had internalized long ago she may have to sell her life to stop the enemy: in that respect, she and Sasuke were very different.
'Don't die, okay?'
"They're retreating," Sasuke said, looking around to find his friends. Fear was overwhelming him, no matter how hard he tried to crush it. There was an anticipation filling him, a familiar kind that he'd only felt once in his life before. Despite the dread, there wasn't an ounce of doubt in him.
"They're trying to draw Mist in. They're going to fire the cannon."
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WinterLantern
Smoked bird
- Location
- North England
Tactical Turtle Insertetion Complete:
Launching Ninja Nuke:
Over.
Launching Ninja Nuke:
Over.
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
The turtle really was underused in the actual setting, huh.
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
I just love huge animals, and tbh the big turtle in Naruto was one of my favorite arcs because of how wild and out there it is. It's easy to get stuck in the Seriousface Discussion of WMD's and the balance of power and blah blah blah, but this is still a universe where Cloud has a 5/5 Military Ranking because they made a deal with a multi-mile turtle a long, long time ago to serve as a secret training ground for their ninja. This one isn't the one that shows up in canon (because it has a lot of secret shit on it that Cloud wouldn't want people to know about), but it is one of its kids: basically a teenager that was like "Oh boy, a battle! That sounds exciting!" and let himself get turned into a battleship.
His name is Shinpi. That probably won't come up but it's important to me.
And yeah, oh boy, here comes by far the biggest explosion in a fic that has arguably too many explosions. It's very boyish of me to be excited by something like that but darn it, big explosions are cool, sue me.
My thoughts exactly, lmao. Thanks for the comments everyone!
Plot twist: it were the tailed beasts Black Zetsu brainwashed, not their hosts.
- Location
- The Middle of the Howling Wilderness
I love him. Also, I was wondering how they got the giant turtle to agree to a plan that involved firing nuclear artillery directly at him, but knowing that he's a teenager explains everything.
Haven't seen much speculation on this, but we're fairly sure that this is Black Zetsu attached to Sakura, right?
Chapter 87: Unravelled
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Beyond Frost: His Own Prisoner
Though he wouldn't know it until shortly after, Obito Uchiha was descending into Naka Shrine at precisely the same time a calamity was descending on the Land of Frost.
There was a sixth sense prickling at him, but he ignored it; over the last day, his eye had been buzzing constantly, burning his whole body with boiling chakra that raced from the base of his skull to the tips of his fingers and toes and back again. He felt swollen and sore and eager, like a runner ready to sprint forward at any second.
It had been the same way when Kakashi died: the burning feeling, the overwhelming sensation of power. His eye was on the verge of awakening, which wasn't a term his clan used lightly. Chakra was composed of physical and spiritual energy, and the Mangekyo Sharingan was a wellspring of the latter. In every Uchiha he'd seen it awakened in, including himself, there had been a corresponding increase in power, precision, and chakra capacity.
It hadn't been like this when he'd taken his brother's eye. In the midst of the feverish haze his body was suffering, Obito couldn't help but think it was because it hadn't been paired. Now, both eyes were undergoing a second awakening, and his body was tearing itself apart trying to contain it.
But none of that was why he was here. Obito took the steps carefully, one at a time, and eventually was deposited at the bottom of the shrine. Ahead of him, Mikoto moved with much less care; she didn't have a fever. She passed into the hidden chamber without ceremony and came to a stop, waiting for him.
Madara Uchiha was right where they had last left him, propped up in a plastic folding chair and staring at the ground, unmoving, unbreathing, a lifeless corpse. Even though Obito knew it would happen, it didn't creep him out any less when the body looked up at them.
"You've returned," Madara rasped. "What brings you down here today?"
"Good news," Obito said mirthlessly. "You can die now."
Madara leaned back, his head lolling as his hair brushed against the chair with a soft sound. "You're mistaken," he said after a long moment. "Orochimaru is still alive. I can feel it."
"That's very possible, ancestor," Mikoto said, her tone far more respectful than Obito's. He couldn't decide if that was justified or not: after what Madara had done, what he'd allowed to happen to Itachi, Obito couldn't feel an ounce of respect for the man. But Mikoto was more closely related to him, and more traditional besides. He couldn't begrudge her a bit of formality. "But there is no chance he will be able to reanimate you again. Sasuke fought Orochimaru, and with assistance defeated him. He wasn't killed, but he is incapacitated."
"How," Madara said bluntly. "I have no wish to experience this humiliation more than once." He took a second to ponder. "Though I do not know if I would recall this experience…"
"He turned into a tree," Obito said, just as bluntly. Madara stopped, and it felt like the room shrank, bringing them face to face even though neither of them had taken a step. His presence was just that intense. "I'm sure because of his experiments on the First Hokage. But it was a tree covered in Sharingan."
"Disgusting," Madara said succinctly. "So, a living tree then. He combined the power of Uchiha and Senju, and suffered for it. That is the presence I feel, despite the shattered contract." He hummed to himself, a low sound like the earth cracking, and then slowly nodded. "That is sufficient then. I will undo the jutsu. May we never meet again."
As Madara raised his trembling hands into a seal, Obito spoke.
"Wait."
Madara paused, empty sockets peeking up at him through bedraggled hair.
"Do not delay me, Obito," he bit out. "This existence is agony. I will be glad to leave it."
"I don't exactly want you sticking around," Obito retorted. "But I've been doing some digging since we started talking. Looking into the Tailed Beasts, your experiments, all sorts of stuff. You've sent me down a rabbit hole I can't find the bottom of."
"That is not my problem. Be content with your limited knowledge, if it pains you so," Madara ground out. "The world is full of mysteries, most never to be solved."
"Sure," Obito said. "But I've got one last question for you before you crawl back into hell."
He waited, sure that Madara's arrogance wouldn't allow him to depart without a final chance to lord his accumulated knowledge over anyone. Mikoto patiently stood to the side, watching her ancestor with curiosity: she hadn't been here for Madara's talk with the Hokage, Obito thought, which was probably for the best. She didn't know it, but Mikoto's ideals were probably most closely aligned with Madara's out of anyone alive.
"Ask it then, whelp," Madara eventually managed, his hands not shifting from their half-seal. Obito crossed his arms, feeling his half-awakened eye burning behind its patch with ever-escalating fervor.
"Black Zetsu," he said. "Your shadow, your Will, whatever you want to call it. You said that you 'awoke your soul.' That your shadow came to life and started to speak to you. Did you make that happen, or was it automatic?"
Madara took a long time to respond. "It was not my conscious desire," he eventually decided. "But it was likely my unconscious will: I had need for a servant, and my shadow became one. The purpose was clear." The hand seal firmed. "That is all."
"That's not all," Obito said coldly. His fever had to be boiling his brain: things were melting together in a nightmarish sludge, but everything he'd been told over the last several weeks lay before him like a shogi game. He was terrible at the game, but in his manic state, the state of the board was suddenly obvious to him.
"You said that after forming the village with the Shodai, all the sacrifices you made to create it, its hypocrisy was suddenly too much for you. That it wasn't perfect, so you had to break away. Even try to destroy it, so that people wouldn't try to replicate it. That was why you took the Kyuubi and turned it on the Hokage, and it was right after you learned about the Infinite Tsukuyomi, wasn't it?"
"Do not recite my own history to me," Madara growled, and Obito felt a sense of threat despite the decades of infirmity keeping the corpse pinned to its chair. He ignored it.
"It was a sudden and destructive change in behavior that baffled everyone who knew you," he said, a sneer curling his lips. "Just like my cousin's."
He walked forward, leaning down until he was actually face to face with the corpse. "Itachi was snared by a shadow, Madara. Sasuke was right, one-hundred percent. But since we spoke to you, did you ever once consider the same might have happened to you?"
"My actions were my own," Madara said, his hands trembling in anger. "My Will was my own. And you-" He snarled, pointing at Obito, then Mikoto, then straight up, "all of you have inherited it, shadow or not. You have seen the truths I've spoken, felt their necessity. Where are your students now, Obito? Are they safe? Or is the world preparing to take them from you?" He reached up, so frail his fingers looked like they would snap off, and Obito didn't back away when he seized his collar and tried to pull him in closer. "They are ninja in a war. War will burn away and consume all that you love. The Bijuu, the Sage, our clan: they are history that paints a picture of salvation. The steps were left for us to end this failed experiment."
"They're not ancient history," Obito said, so matter of fact that it couldn't help but be cruel. "They're living history. And I don't care about the Sage's experiment one way or another. It's not what matters." He pulled away, and Madara's strength failed, leaving him grasping at air. "There's something else out there. I don't know what it is, but there have been things moving around in the darkness for hundreds, thousands of years now. Your shadow, the Tailed Beasts, the Shinju, Princess Kaguya, it's all connected and it's still here."
Madara sank back, glaring up at Obito eyelessly, and Obito scowled. "You might have had a grand plan, Madara, but I think whatever's got hold of Itachi had done this before. I think that the Shadow has been stalking us all for longer than we can imagine. So before you go, is there a single thing you can offer us to help clean up your mistakes?"
Madara stared for a long time, nearly two minutes. Eventually, his hands came back up into the release seal, still trembling. To the side, Mikoto shifted, her lips pursed.
"There's no hope for you," he said as Obito stared down at him, somehow disappointed even if he hadn't expected any better. "I can feel your burgeoning power, Obito, but you will misuse it. You will be like your teacher; a man too terrified of himself to save the world." He completed the seal, and a gale whipped across the room, tearing away at Madara's parchment-like skin and starting his swift disintegration.
"I won't accept your regrets when we meet again."
Then Madara Uchiha was gone. A corpse toppled out of the pile of ash, knocking the chair over and falling to the concrete floor with a dull thwack. Obito stared down at it: it was a young man, no one he recognized. Doubtlessly someone Orochimaru had kidnapped and murdered to serve as Madara's host.
He gently bent down and picked up the body, hoisting it over his shoulder and he turned to Mikoto. "Sorry," he said. "I don't know if you had anything to say to him."
Mikoto smiled, if somewhat sadly. "His time was long past," she said. "I had nothing to say that I hadn't already." She paused. "But what you told him about his Will… you believe that, don't you Obito? From the investigation you've been doing?"
"I do," Obito said firmly, feeling like his bones were jello but steadfastly moving towards the exit. Mikoto fell in step beside him, moving to support the body he was carrying. "Something has been playing games with our clan. That Stone…" he glanced back at it, all the way across the chamber. "The legend says we got it from the Sage. But if he really left the Bijuu behind to continue his plan, gave them those instructions on his deathbed… why would he give one of his son's descendants the key to ruining it all? And only one, not the other? The Senju don't have anything like that: I checked with Tsunade." He blew out a breath as they mounted the stairs, not caring to analyze Mikoto's disbelieving expression. "It's not like Indra and Asura are around to ask… anyone could have gifted the clan that thing."
"But for what purpose?" Mikoto asked, her brow furrowed. "Promising a paradise would push the clan to action, I suppose, but…" She trailed off, the enormity of the conspiracy breaking over her, and Obito grimaced.
"Something's rotten in the world, and it's got Itachi in its grip," he said, climbing up out of the darkness with a corpse and more questions than answers. "I can see it clearer than ever. My eyes will awaken tonight, I think. So tomorrow, I'm going to the Land of Lightning. And once I'm done with them…"
Obito smiled.
"I'm going to grab that shadow and strangle some answers out of it."
Chapter 88: Revelation
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Could Bring An End To Everything
As far as Sakura was concerned, the battle was going pretty well until the island-turtle arrived.
She, Naruto, Jiraiya, and several other Rain ninja had cut a swathe through Cloud's fleet, assisted in part by the swarms of ninja from the Hidden Mist. They had mostly stayed out of each other's way: the Mist shinobi seemed content to let Rain fight their own battles, and that had been just fine to Sakura. Fighting alongside unfamiliar allies could be dangerous, especially with a jutsu like hers. Only having to worry about cutting down her enemies was ideal.
Jiraiya drew her attention to the problem as he shook his head with an incredulous look. He was in Sage Mode, guiding them throughout the battlefield with his superhuman senses. "They turned one into a fortress?" he said, his toad-like eyes fixed on the massive creature as ninja swarmed towards it. "Unbelievable. I'd heard-"
"What should we do?" Naruto cut him off, looking out over the battlefield. He'd sent out clones for triage, but his super strength had still been at Sakura's side keeping her safe. "They're retreating."
'He's the perfect bodyguard. The closer you stick to him, the better.'
That thought was too cold for her but perfect for the battlefield, so Sakura didn't question it. And she liked being at Naruto's side: he made her feel safe and warm. The memory of the impulsive kiss was still keeping her up at night, but she didn't know how to act on it. She couldn't dream of being that impulsive again, but she wanted to be: she wanted to stop thinking and just act, no matter how impossible it was.
"Let them run," Jiraiya said. "If the assault has failed, we've done our job here. We can leave it to Mist and their Bijuu to clean up." He glanced back at the towering slug and the corrosive gas it was spewing. "And I definitely don't want to get in that thing's way."
'Three of them are here. If you had them in hand, you'd be a superpower. He's a seal master. He could help accomplish your dream.'
It was true, but Sakura couldn't see any way Jiraiya could be convinced to steal from the Hidden Mist so blatantly. Maybe if the battle had gone worse for them, but right now all the Tailed Beasts were either firmly out of her reach or already sealed in an ally. For now, it couldn't be helped; even if it made her heart burn from the injustice of it, they might have to let Cloud go… for now.
As she watched, the turtle rocked and groaned, lashing out at the water around it. Many of the Cloud ninja had successfully retreated, but the Sanbi had returned and was obviously harrying the huge animal from below, along with everything else lurking in the water: Mist ninja, that rogue Sasuke had met named Kisame, and countless summons. The island-turtle was huge, but that didn't make it invincible, which was probably why it began to sink below the waves at that moment. The water lapped against the invisible barrier surrounding it, failing to actually spill onto the top of the turtle as the ninja fortress started to vanish from sight.
At the same time, Konan swept down from above. No, it wasn't the original Konan, Sakura realized after a moment: the Amekage had split herself into several smaller clones which were now rushing about the sinking fleet and violent waves, giving orders to the spread out Rain ninja. By Sakura's estimate, including her group there were only about twenty left. They'd won, but at the cost of more than half the force.
This would be their final battle in the Land of Frost, and what Konan said only confirmed that.
"Retreat however you can, as quickly as you can," Konan ordered urgently, a hint of fear in her eyes. "Cloud is likely going to target Mist's Bijuu with the Cannon. They planned this from the start."
None of them waited for another word. They just turned west and started sprinting across the rough water into the bloody sun, Naruto speaking with obvious panic to Konan.
"This close to Hakoda?!" he asked, and she grimly nodded. "I thought they wouldn't shoot with an occupied city in the way!"
"They're either confident in its accuracy or they don't care," Konan confirmed. "It's Sasuke's intuition, and the only reason they would try to bait out Mist's forces like this. I've sent Fuu to tell them about the danger; if anyone can survive a close hit, it will be her. But-"
Jiraiya hissed, spinning and looking back as he held one hand up to his head. Sakura watched him, feeling a horrible mix of disinterest, fear, and fatalism.
'This could be very bad.'
"Something big just happened," he said, a rumbling dread filling his voice. "Konan… they fired it."
"How long?!" she snapped, and Jiraiya shook his head.
"Less than a minute." He was already biting his thumb and running through a summoning jutsu, producing a tiny man-eating toad. "Everyone, inside now. He'll dive as deep as he can; it might be our only chance."
As the toad devoured her, Sakura looked back towards the sinking fleet, searching for Sasuke, Fuu, and Nonō. She couldn't find them in the chaos, through the fire and smoke and flames and plumes of white and red water, but she could see the Rokubi rearing up, staring at the sky. Somehow, it knew just as well as Jiraiya did what was coming: it had to be a sensor too.
'Don't die,' she silently prayed as she found herself in the dark guts of the toad, pressed in alongside Naruto, Jiraiya, and Konan. She could feel the pressure around her growing as the summon dove into the ocean, swimming down and away from the coming danger.
'I need you.'
###
Fuu was flying faster than she ever had before
She darted across the waves with such speed that the beating of her wings blew a divot in the water below her, smashing through anything that got in her way. Anywhere she found ninja that somehow hadn't gotten the message, she shouted at them. It was usually the same words.
"Run! Cloud's using their weapon! Get out of here!"
Some people listened; some didn't. Fuu didn't have time to stop to encourage the ones that didn't; Konan's orders to her had been clear and obvious. Save everyone you can, and then get yourself out of the blast zone.
She wasn't worried for herself. She had wings: she could fly faster than almost any ninja could run. And she was tough; the carapace she'd taken from Chomei and covered her own body in could turn aside any blade and blunt any explosion. If worse came to worst, even if the blast that had almost destroyed Amegakure happened right next to her, she was confident she would survive. That might have been a confidence that came from naivete, but she had it nonetheless.
But she was terrified for Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, because none of them were as tough as her. She was terrified of what would happen to Konan, who she trusted more than any adult she'd ever met. Her heart bled for everyone that had died in the battle, all the new names she'd learned that were now drifting in the waves or had left them across Frost in the days before. She'd made so many friends that the fear of losing them made it hard to breathe, and the sound of her heart hammering in her chest was deafening.
Way, way off in the distance, beyond the horizon, she imagined she saw a flash of red. Konan had said the cannon's bomb moved faster than anything she could imagine. When it arrived, she'd probably only have a moment to react. Her friends might die in the blink of an eye.
All that desperation was too much for her to handle: she started shouting inside too.
'Chomei!'
Chomei didn't always answer. Fuu would call her aloof, but it was more that Fuu pestered her all the time and she was sure the ancient demon got tired of her. It didn't hurt her feelings; it wasn't like either of them had decided to be stuck with the other. But when Chomei didn't answer, she called again.
'Chomei! I don't want anyone to die! Is there anything we can do besides running away?!'
This time, there was a response.
'Everyone Is Going To Die Eventually, Fuu. Humans Don't Live For Very Long.'
'But I don't want them to die now!' Fuu said, crashing through a sinking ship without altering course as she scooped up a Mist ninja trapped under a burning steel beam and threw him out to sea towards his comrades. They scooped him up with bewildered looks and continued running as she ranted to the Tailed Beast. 'There has to be something we can do! We can't let Cloud get away with this! They can't just keep killing people!'
Chomei paused, and Fuu paused too, frantically looking around for more people to warn. As far as she could tell, all the ninja were fleeing south or west. Cloud's giant turtle was totally gone, and the Sanbi was nowhere to be seen. But-
'We're Not A Sensor,' Chomei said, obviously seeing through Fuu's eyes. The Rokubi was reared straight up out of the water and staring north, its distended eyes wiggling around at the top of its head in agitation. Chomei heaved a sigh, a sound so human that Fuu couldn't help but giggle. 'But The Rokubi Seems To Have An Idea Of What's Happening. Maybe It Has A Decent Host, Someone Like You. If You Get Close, We Can Ask. Just Don't Get Killed By The Toxic Gas.'
"Okay!" Fuu declared, zipping towards the towering slug. One eye swiveled down towards her in obvious curiosity as Fuu flew up its body towards the head, hovering right in front of its enormous face. She looked it over, trying to figure out how they could talk, and settled on just yelling and waving her arms as hard as she could.
"Hey!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, having already decided that obviously if there was another Jinchuriki in there it was buried under several tons of sludge and chakra. "They fired their cannon! Is there anything you can-!?"
"-do?!" she finished, and then blinked.
She wasn't above the ocean anymore. She was in a space with no ceiling or sky, starless darkness rolling in every direction. Gentle light like that of a fire filled it, casting everything with a warm orange hue.
The Rokubi was still there right in front of her, standing on the not-ground and rearing up to its full tremendous height. But it wasn't alone: there was a slender and pale boy with long dark hair sitting cross-legged in front of it, peering at her with one eye concealed by his thick hair.
Fuu looked back, too confused to speak, and found Chomei behind her. All of Chomei; she'd never seen the Beast's entire form before, and that struck her even dumber. The Nanabi was a tremendous blue beetle with iridescent orange wings and a magnificent horn, so huge and awe inspiring that Fuu couldn't help but smile.
"Chomei!" she said, and Chomei shifted, eight huge glowing eyes peering down at Fuu like the face of some ancient and gorgeous armor. "You're beautiful!"
"That's Not Usually What People Say," Chomei said, her voice washing over Fuu like a tidal wave. It was much more in wherever they were, visions and sounds and feelings all wrapped up together and thrown at her like a ball of yarn that threatened to wrap her up and strangle her. "But Thank You. Now Speak Quickly. This Is Telepathy; It's Faster Than Using Your Mouth Like A Human, But Not Instant.'
"Okay!" Fuu said, before turning back towards the Jinchuriki and the Rokubi. "Hello! My name is Fuu!" She bowed deeply, hands on her knees, and then straightened up and started talking even faster. "I don't really know what's going on, but Chomei told me I should talk to you! Cloud fired their cannon, and it's gonna hit here any second! If that happens, a lot of my friends could die! Is there anything you can do to help us?"
The Rokubi bent down, its massive shadow falling over Fuu, and she stared up at it. It didn't have a face, not really, just its swiveling slug-like eyes and a wide toothless mouth, but she felt like she could read its expression nonetheless. Confusion, curiosity, appraisal. She'd never met another Tailed Beast before, but she hadn't expected its chakra to be so different. It wasn't as big as Chomei, but the feeling it was giving off was like the ocean, or a bottomless pit of mud. Deep, dark, dangerous, and mysterious.
It turned farther down, looking at its Jinchuriki, who still hadn't moved. He was just staring at Fuu with intense, dark eyes. He wasn't old, maybe twenty-ish, but he was like the Beast: intense and dark.
That was, until the Rokubi spoke.
"you said you couldn't do it alone!" it said in the most high-pitched voice Fuu had ever heard. "and here's a solution right in front of you! convenient, utakata, super convenient!"
Fuu blinked again as Chomei fluttered her wings. "Lucky Indeed. So You Have A Worthy Host As Well, Saiken.'
"i've had much worse,' Saiken, the Rokubi said, rearing back up. 'the last one was-"
"Saiken," the Jinchuriki, Utakata, finally spoke, his voice low and calm. "What is this, exactly?"
"tailed beast telepathy! you should be honored! it's been almost one-hundred years since i spoke to anyone like this!" the Rokubi declared. "besides, who cares? your mizukage gave her orders, didn't she? now you won't have to disobey!"
"Orders? What kind of orders?" Fuu said, and Utakata looked up at her with a resigned face.
"It's my duty to defend the village from Cloud's weapon," he said, and Fuu made an understanding noise. That made perfect sense; every village had to have some kinda plan to deal with the cannon, like Nagato in Amegakure. "I know the secrets of Bijuudama; do you know what that is?"
"Uhh…" Fuu remembered through a half-dreamt haze almost blowing up her entire village and wiped the memory away with a smile. "Kinda! But if you know how to do that, why didn't you guys just blow up Cloud's fleet with one?"
"I can only do one a day," Utakata said dourly. "Maybe your seal's made of sterner stuff, but more than that and Saiken's chakra would melt my body."
"sorry!" Saiken said, and Fuu could swear the Beast winked at her. "i'm too hot to handle!"
"So I had to save my Bijuudama for a counter-shot. I have a powerful sensory jutsu: the Mizukage was relying on me to detect the cannon if it fired, and take the shot out of the air." He looked down. "But I can feel it coming now, and it's just too much. I might be able to knock it off course if I was lucky, but I couldn't stop it. No matter what, the village is doomed at this rate. If Cloud finds out our countermeasure has failed, they'll target Kirigakure immediately."
"Can I help?!" Fuu said, relief washing through her burning blood like ice-water. "I can give you more chakra! Or Chomei could give you some! Then-!"
"That Won't Work, Fuu," Chomei said, her voice like a winter wind. "But We're Lucky. This Jinchuriki Is A Sensor, and Compatible With Saiken." The buzzing of her wings intensified, filling the imaginary and infinite space with a storm. "Host Of Saiken, Will Two Bijuudama Be Enough?"
Utakata stood up, staring back and forth between Fuu and Chomei. "You're serious?" he asked, and Fuu nodded urgently, not entirely getting what she was agreeing to. She didn't know how to form a Bijuudama, and Chomei had never offered the secret. Not that it mattered to her: before right this second, blowing up a ton of stuff hadn't been appealing to her. "It might be; it would definitely divert the shot at the very least. If we weren't careful, it could hit Frost."
"We Will Combine Our Chakra. I Will Form The Bijuudama; You Will Guide Fuu's Aim," Chomei said with an air of unmistakable authority. "Saiken, I Assume This Is Agreeable To You."
"sure!" Saiken said cheerfully. "better than exploding, for sure!"
"Good," Chomei declared. "Now Focus. We Will Only Have One Chance."
The space started to meld together, and Fuu was suddenly in two places at once. Here, in the telepathy place, and here, fluttering above the ocean as Chomei's chakra began to coalesce around her, forming into a glowing phantom beetle. Fuu felt her body turn, pushed by the chakra inside and around her, and followed the invisible force, surrendering her body to Chomei's control as her seal burned. More and more Bijuu chakra was pouring out of it, whirling in front of her with ever-increasing energy.
It was just like Team Seven's Rasengan, she realized. She knew how to do something like this, or at least had seen people do something like this and could imagine how it worked. She started trying to nudge the chakra along as well, but Chomei rebuked her, her whole body shaking with sudden negative energy.
"I Said Focus! Connect Your Chakra As Best Humans Can!" Fuu's senses were drawn to Saiken and Utakata below her; she had settled on the Rokubi's head, her feet sinking into the soft slug-like flesh there. "His Eyes Must Be Yours!"
Fuu took that as literally as she did most things, and closed her eyes. She reached out with all of her other senses, trying to feel Utakata's chakra. There were other eyes here, she realized; other sensors watching them from a distance. From Cloud or Mist, it didn't matter: she purged everything from her mind except the yearning to connect with Utakata, to feel what he could feel and see what he could see.
She'd only just met him, but the guy seemed cool. She didn't want him to die either, or for his village to be destroyed. As far as she was concerned, her only enemies were the Hidden Cloud, Kakuzu the Immortal, and Itachi Uchiha; everyone else deserved whatever peace they could manage.
Fuu couldn't have told anyone ever how she did it, but after a moment she perceived a distant string of light, like a beam of sunlight refracted through a single dew-drop. She followed it, reaching out with invisible hands and grasping it close, and the light grew, expanding and intensifying until suddenly she could see everything. It was like she was high above, staring down at the two Tailed Beasts below and barely able to see her own body. High and far away, the cannon shot was coming. It sliced across the sky like a crimson blade that was tearing open the heavens themselves and leaving a bloody wound behind, so huge and heavy and fearsome that Fuu found herself shaking with excitement and dread looking at it.
It was about eighty miles away. Somehow, Utakata knew that meant they had about twenty-three seconds before it hit dead center on the Cloud fleet's previous position, and Utakata knowing it meant Fuu knew it too. Their own Bijuudama would travel only a fraction of their target's speed: Utakata, Chomei, and Saiken were all running calculations that were making Fuu's head spin and hurt, but somehow she kept up.
She fixed her eyes on a terminal point twenty miles away, where if they fired the dual Bijuudama would intercept the cannon's shot. It was a single burning beam, but it was starting to waver and split into eight separate attacks. If their own attacks detonated at that precise point of separation, the attack would be completely destroyed, flung out beyond the atmosphere and far away from anyone.
"Chomei," she said, her voice vibrating from all the chakra pouring through her. "I have it!" The Bijuudama was forming before her and another below, two huge orbs of dark chakra that were so heavy that Fuu could feel herself being drawn towards them.
"FOCUS," Chomei demanded. "HOLD IT."
"We have it," Utakata confirmed, and despite the distance between them Fuu reached out and took his hand. The Mist ninja was shaking, but when she squeezed his hand he stopped, all of his chakra surging and focusing on the same terminal point she had found. "We're ready."
The moment approached, but Fuu's focus didn't waver. She couldn't describe the feeling she was experiencing; like her entire life had been before this moment, and that everything that came after would be separate from what came before. It was like a line had been drawn through everything, cutting open the world and revealing a new one. She'd never felt so powerful, so scared, so sure, so anything. She'd never forget the feeling as long as she lived.
"Alright," Utakata said. He let go of her hand, throwing himself forward. "Let's go."
All four of them released at the same time, throwing their heart and soul into the moment and forgetting everything else. Around them, the air cracked and the ocean blew away.
"BIJUUDAMA!"
The two impossibly heavy chakra-bombs exploded outwards, rotating around one another in a helix as they roared off into the sky. High above, the red light of the cannon was approaching, arcing down into a fatal fall.
Their aim was perfect. Both Bijuudama struck the shot head-on and detonated.
Utakata had believed the explosion would throw the blast off course. Fuu had believed the same, because their souls had been tied together in that moment and she couldn't bring herself to doubt him.
But that wasn't quite what happened.
Instead, the eight beams of peeling light and energy exploded too, and everything went white hot.
###
What's happening right now is a first-time and one-time event. It has never happened before, and will never happen again in all of history.
Bijuudama have collided five times since the Sage died and left the Tailed Beasts his will. Siblings squabble, even if they are hundreds of feet tall and capable of obliterating mountains with their anger. Each time, the scale of destruction was extraordinary, but Tailed Beasts Bombs are not indiscriminate weapons. They carry their wielder's will, and unleash their energy with precision. They can be guided with incredible aim, and seldom directly damage anything beyond the immediate blast radius. They are, more so than anything else in existence, the fantasy of a bomb that destroys only its assigned target.
However, the cannon's bomb was different.
The cannon's bomb was unrestrained, despite how tightly controlled its vector was. It was a mindless weapon fueled by the chakra of the Hachibi and its Jinchuriki, Killer Bee. In a way, it was the perfection of the shinobi ideal that the inheritors of Indra and Asura's will had been clawing towards for thousands of years.
When the chakra of three Tailed Beasts collided eight miles in the air above the Land of Frost, something no one could have predicted happened. The Tailed Beasts were all once parts of a greater whole, and just as Fuu, Utakata, Chomei, and Saiken had merged their chakra, the energy of both Bijuudama and the cannon's shot combined in an astonishing synthesis.
It became greater than the sum of its parts, achieving a quasi-divinity for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Then, without a guiding will, it detonated.
It was, without much exaggeration, an apocalypse.
A distended fireball bloomed in the sky, six miles in diameter. For a full second, there was a rising sun to match the setting one to the west. The heat of the blast instantly incinerated everything within a mile of the fireball, boiled hundreds of billions of gallons of the ocean, and blinded anyone that directly witnessed it without sufficient protection or distance.
This included Deidara, who was both figuratively and literally blinded by the majesty of the detonation. He stared directly up into the apocalypse and cried tears of joy for the entire duration of the explosion, miraculously surviving every calamity it caused. Every other ninja present at the Battle of Hakoda had the good sense to look away, or were shielded by the ocean.
When Sasuke Uchiha looked down and contemplated diving into the ocean to avoid the blast, knowing he would be too slow, he didn't have time to blink before a great white shark hit him like a torpedo from below at a significant fraction of the speed of sound, swallowing him in a single gulp.
The fireball was so huge and so bright that its light could be seen from almost clear across the continent. Climbing out of the darkness of Naka Shrine, Obito and Mikoto Uchiha could see it through the thick trees of the Uchiha estate. It solidified in Obito an unstoppable resolve to end the war that would push him forward for the rest of his life. Sitting atop his tower in Amegakure and keeping watch over his home, Nagato Uzumaki could see it, and more so than almost anyone else on the planet could feel it as well. It drove him to rash action almost immediately: his caution and hesitation chipped, on the edge of shattering.
Somewhere else in Amegakure, Karin Uzumaki started crying.
The sound could not be described. No human would ever hear it and live, but the distant boom of its echo was also felt all around the world.
Nearly every window within eight-hundred miles of the blast, so those within the Lands of Lightning, Frost, Waterfalls, Rivers, Fire, Springs, and Water, broke. Birds fell from the sky, nocturnal animals refused to leave their dens, and a dull rumble carried through the air for minutes afterwards, filling anything that heard it with dread.
A superstorm raged across the Land of Frost, a hurricane, earthquake, and firestorm all rolled into one. Impossibly strong winds crumbled away the summits of mountains while new ones formed as the earth grinded against itself. Towns collapsed into fresh chasms, were crushed by avalanches, or simply fell over as the earth shook beneath them. All of Hakoda's ordinary inhabitants had been killed instantly by fireball and shockwave manifesting a mere twenty miles away, and the city immediately crumbled into the boiling sea just minutes later, erasing the largest mass grave in history. The newly formed bay was massive, but would not be used for years out of superstition of the vengeful dead.
By the end of the cataclysm, twelve percent of the population of the Land of Frost would be dead or severely injured.
A hundred miles away, the court of the Lightning Daimyo shifted on its foundations high in the mountains. This was rightfully seen as a terrible omen (not to mention a structural danger), and so the Daimyo and his court were relocated to a secondary palace even farther from the border, at the edge of the Lightning Peninsula.
It wouldn't save them in the end.
Shinobi near the blast fared the best they could. The Cloud ninja that had successfully baited the trap and escaped aboard the brave island-turtle Shinpi, son of Genbu, were terrified as the ocean boiled around them. However, they were protected from the worst of the blast by the depths of the ocean and the powerful barrier that surrounded them. Their commander was Cee, a brilliant sensor and the Raikage's most trusted lieutenant. He had volunteered for this dangerous mission and had accomplished it to the best of his ability, but he had never imagined the results of the cannon and Bijuudama clashing.
To his sensory abilities, the blast had been a billion times brighter than the flashbang jutsu he had used on so many of Cloud's enemies. It scoured his mind clean and left him in a permanent vegetative state. With their commander mission-killed and their morale shattered, Shinpi and the Cloud force retreated, unwilling to face three Bijuu without the cannon's support.
The Mist forces comported themselves with absolutely admirable discipline. Their numbers had been halved by the defensive action and halved again by the blast, but they reorganized in the face of the brutal casualties, assisting deafened comrades and recapturing the Sanbi after only eighteen minutes. The Bijuu was resealed into its emergency vessel, an enormous clay molding of a weeping baby covered in ancient sealing techniques.
The Rain forces were decimated; of the twenty-two surviving Rain ninja, five were knocked out and drowned, one was permanently placed in a religious ecstasy that left him unable to act, and three more immediately gave up on being shinobi and fled the battlefield. Konan survived, insulated from the shockwave by her paper body, but found afterwards that no matter what she did, the tears would not stop flowing. She organized the surviving Rain ninja and fled west, seeking shelter in the burning wilderness.
In the ocean, Jiraiya's summoned toad was boiled by the ocean and pulped by the shockwave, disgorging its cargo and unable to reverse-summon to Mount Myoboku thanks to the chakra shock. Konan's clone dissipated as Team Seven and Jiraiya were left stunned and drowning in the burning abyssal water, though they only drifted for seconds before a giant shark devoured them all.
Fuu and Utakata, along with their Bijuu, had the strangest and most horrible experience of all.
They were transported high above to the heart of the fireball, and witnessed everything as if they were gods that had wrought the devastation.
But they didn't do so alone.
###
Fuu's surety hadn't disappeared, but it had transformed from wonderful to dreadful. There at the roof of the world, she watched the Land of Frost burn like a floating ghost, suspended at the center of it all.
Everything her chakra swept over, she felt. Everything their chakra swept over, they felt. It was too much for her to bear, but up here, bodiless, she could not fall, cry, or hurt. All she could do was turn towards her companions, who were all watching with the same quiet, infinite horror.
"Why did you do this?" she asked. She wasn't talking to Utakata. There was another man up here, tall and dark-skinned, wearing sunglasses like he'd come prepared to stare into a new sun. There were tears running from under them. "Didn't you know this would happen?"
"I didn't know… yo," he said, staring down at the burning country. "I was just following my bro."
"You're the Hachibi Jinchuriki," Utakata said, similarly transfixed. "Killer Bee."
"Lord Bee, that's me," Bee said. He sank down, and Fuu followed him, feeling everything he was and more. They were all tied together now, like her and Utakata had been, to the point she couldn't tell if the hatred she was feeling towards the Cloud ninja was hers, Utakata's, or his own. "But… I really didn't know it would be like this."
"This is the second time now," Fuu said, feeling more clarity than she ever had before. "You blew up Amekagure, killed thousands. Now you've done it again. How could you not know?"
"I've fought in wars," Bee said, his voice faint as they were buffeted by winds of death. "Killed scores: did it with swords. When you end a guy face to face, it's easy to pretend that that's that, you can keep up the pace. So when I got asked to push a button…" His face twisted, the terror and guilt pouring out of him as if from a mortal wound. "It was a rush, I didn't fuss. Firing the biggest gun ever made is cool, y'know?"
He sank in on himself, clutching at his head. "Fool, ya fool…"
"We're all mass murderers now," Utakata said clearly. "But you're the one that started this. We can't forgive you for that."
Fuu nodded, feeling her own words in Utakata's mouth. After a second, Bee shook his head.
"I can't either," Bee said. He tried to rhyme again, and just as with Utakata Fuu felt the words twist and fall apart in her own mouth. "I'm sorry. I can't make this up: I can't keep up."
"It's just as I feared, Bee," an unfamiliar voice cut in, and Fuu looked back to find three Tailed Beasts towering over them. Chomei, Saiken, and what must have been the Hachibi: it was a huge octopus with the torso and head of a bull, with an unmistakably heartbroken look on its face. "Using our power like this… the Raikage's made a huge mistake. After this, the whole world will want Kumogakure's head. When this link ends, I suggest that we flee."
True to the Hachibi's words, Fuu could feel the ethereal connection fading. The fireball was going out, and their shared chakra was dissipating with it. She could feel her own body again, drifting in the burning ocean below and surrounded by countless dead fish.
"You'll abandon your own village? Your 'bro?'" she asked the Jinchuriki, but he seemed nearly catatonic. The Hachibi spoke in his stead.
"There's no value in mindless loyalty. Would you stand by someone that had set you on this kind of path?" it asked, and Fuu shook her head. "Right. So we won't either. His brother… well, he chose this path, far more than Bee could."
"Where will you go?" she asked, and the Hachibi bent down towards her.
"Will you hunt us?" it asked, and Fuu felt its fear, her fear, and tears in her eyes. "Bee did not deserve this; it is as much my mistake for not stopping him." It closed its eyes. "I have always been used as a weapon, but I knew this technology was something new and dangerous."
"I don't know," Fuu said honestly. "I don't know what to do about any of this. I have friends that have said that what's going on can't be allowed to continue…"
She hadn't felt Sakura and Naruto and Sasuke's deaths below, but that didn't mean anything. Fuu balled her hands into fists, glaring up at the Hachibi. "And they're obviously right. This can't ever be allowed to happen again. If Bee refused to use the cannon, would they put you in another Jinchuriki, Hachibi?"
"It's possible," the Hachibi said after a moment's consideration. The link was on the edge of breaking now, but Fuu's rage was keeping it intact. "The Raikage loves Bee like a brother, but he is being pressured by his government to win this war. It would be an impossible choice for him."
"Then run," Fuu said. "Don't ever let this happen again. If you do that, I won't hunt you." She closed her eyes, trying to wipe away her tears. "I can't speak for anyone else, but I just came here to make friends. I don't want to be that kind of person."
"You came to a war to make friends?" the Hachibi asked, and Utakata echoed it with the same confusion. Bee seemed comatose, staring down at Frost without a reaction to anything the Hachibi had said. "Maybe you two would have been friends in different circumstances. You're certainly a strange one."
"Maybe," Fuu said, feeling the connection on the edge of breaking. "Utakata, you should go back to your village." She tried to smile, and for the first time in her life failed. "We could meet again?"
"We'll see," Utakata said hollowly. "But I hope you stay safe, Fuu. Thanks for saving my village."
Fuu nodded, and then when she next blinked she was alone in the ocean, surrounded by burning ships and floating corpses.
"Chomei," she whispered out loud. "Did we do the wrong thing?"
'We Could Not Have Known,' Chomei said, and Fuu felt her pushing from within for her to get up and keep moving. 'So Now, There Is No Point In Worrying. Go Find Your Friends, And Figure Out What Happens Next.'
So despite feeling thousands of deaths in her heart weighing her down and pulling her towards the ocean's depths, Fuu rose to her feet, sprouted her wings once more, and took off into the air in search of her friends.
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