Chapter Text
"It's Naruto-hime!" A Hyuuga calls, "She's coming fast, so I hope your barrier can hold her! She's a Fuuinjutsu Mistress!"
A portly ninja from Kumo blusters, "It's time for our barrier team to do its job! We've worked hard to create this barrier, men! We won't be letting her through!" He shouts, "The only thing HQ will be hearing from us is 'Mission accomplished'! Do you hear me?!"
Naruto's small forms leaps to the side, giving a massive bijuudama extra room to pass her before it crashes into the barrier. Naruto turns, befuddled and surprised, then sees the full bestial form of the Hachibi with Bee's rapping coming out of it, "They put up a barrier to keep us conatained! It ain't gonna keep us restrained!"
"Octopops!" Naruto beams.
"Let's break this cage, foo'!" Bee declares, no long is he in bestial form, but the Hachibi's cloak. Naruto enters her Bijuu Mode in response when he catches up to her, "You pushed my bijuudama, through!"
Bee starts breaking through the barrier manually while Naruto pushes on the massive bijuudama. The barrier is crumbling away under their combined force, though she can sense that it's trying to repair. She smirks, 'Not fast enough, 'ttebayo!'
even as the bijuudama shrinks, they break through the final layer of the barrier together. They appear to be on a coast, which baffles Naruto. Did the island move? It's a spiky pillar shore now. Oh well, closer to land means less water running.
"Where are we?" Naruto asks.
"Don't sweat it!," Bee says, "Let's roll!" He takes off, Naruto after him quickly.
"For the record," Tsunade starts in the face of an irate Raikage, "I warned you this would happen back at the summit,"
Naruto drops her jinchuriki form as they run, traveling through the the spiked mountains quickly. Naruto uses every moment she can to regain her chakra stores before entering her Bijuu Mode again, using its specific sensing ability with Mind's Eye of Kagura. There's so many people dying, there's so much suffering and pain. Night has fallen, meaning that the situation can only get worse.
"If you keep going all out, you'll be out of chakra when you need it," Bee warns.
Naruto frowns at the lands ahead of her, the fading and suffering people in the lands to the west, "I don't have time to waste, Octopops!"
She doubles her speed with the Bijuu Mode. She could probably conserve some of this Kyuubi chakra by entering Sage Mode, but that would require a stillness there's no time for. And until she's a minimum distance away, she can't flash to any of the hiraishin seals shes snuck on plenty of her friends unless they throw and activate one of her kunai themselves.
She can feel Karin using a lot of chakra, practically making a spectacle out of herself to the north-west, "Uzumaki Secret Art; Mind's Eye of Kagura!" Naruto expands her senses as far as they'll reach toward the north. There's a strange lump of chakra with massive amounts of bijuu chakra mixing together in a writhing horrific mass. Madara is there too, but Naruto can't sense Sasuke with him.
Karin's going strong, though she'll need to rest soon if the state of her chakra is anything to go by. She's been near single-handedly keeping the numbers strong on her front it seems, as the casualties aren't as severe as Naruto would have expected considering Madara is on the battlefield.
Naruto's glowing body is lighting up the night as she pulls ahead of Killer Bee, all the while, the Kyuubi speaks to her. It's strange to hear him so clearly while she's awake and not meditating. This is also the first time he's ever spoken to her first without prompting of any sort. Usually, if he's talking to her without her starting the conversation, it's usually to offer her chakra as an escape attempt.
"I've been with you every day of your little life, Naruto," Kyuubi says within her mind, "And you have always, always been naive,"
Naruto snorts, disbelieving, "It's weird for you to talk to me first, 'ttebayo," She says in lieu of replying, "I understand that you've been lonely here, but I don't exactly have the time right now,"
"Do you truly believe you can end an entire war by yourself? It's impossible... but if you like, I can lend-"
Naruto cuts him off with a huff of laughter, eyeing the beast over her shoulder, "Nice try. Knew there was a reason you were talking to me first,"
The Kyuubi... laughs. Not quite a full bodied jovial laughter, but it doesn't sound as cruel and mocking as it usually does, "Perhaps you have wised up a little,"
Naruto remembers her childhood dreams, unknowingly viewing the Kyuubi without context or knowledge. He'd always felt so lonely... so angry. He'd say awful things to her, but never anything like what the villagers had whispered behind her back. He'd called her lesser, but that was to her humanity in general... not her personal existence. She remembers waking up in tears, though not afraid, but so heartbroken for the trapped animal in the cage.
"We'll talk after the war," Naruto promises. She wonders... does he have a name? Parents? Did someone love him once?
"If they kill your friends, it'll bring that much more hatred into your life!" Kyuubi shouts, "Do you intend to kill every single foe before a life is lost? It's too late for that! Even if you do, you'll have to bear the enemies' hatred instead! Be honest, Uzumaki Naruto, you don't think you can do it on your own! Sooner or later, that hate will consume you like it did Nagato... this war only drags you closer to that day!"
Naruto glares up the the Kyuubi, "You need to stop underestimating me, dattebayo," She replies with a deadly seriousness that even startles the Kyuubi into silence for a moment. She's started to understand him better, maybe its the constant use of this chakra, but... he's projecting.
He narrows his eyes back at her, shouting and roaring, "You understanding nothing, you gullible girl! Can you really bear or erase all of that hate?! The war's already started, you can feel the many casualties! There's a hate that comes with each death!"
Naruto knows that. She knows. It's never been her goal to erase all of the hatred in the world. However, she's always going to try to prevent it from ruling anyone. No one can just be hate... not even the Kyuubi.
"Sasuke has been trapped in a prison of hate for as long as you've known him!" Kyuubi taunts, "Have you been able to do anything for him? You've known since that day... "
The blonde knows what he's talking about. One of their first ever spars, before she and Hinata ever became friends. Neither would make the sign of reconciliation after their fight, Naruto having lost the fight and Sasuke thinking himself above her as usual. She'd run off after a scolding but saw the look in his eyes as she left. It was so cold...
"Whatever became of Sasuke? Did you clear the hatred from his heart and mind?" He continues, "No. That hatred has only grown and consumed him further. In other words; you are powerless to endure or eradicate anyone's hatred!"
There's a long stretch of silence, Naruto looking up into the dark glowing eyes of the fox, "You done?" She asks. Honestly, she'd expected him to be a lot more cutting with his words. For a being of supposed pure hated, he's barely scratched the surface of things she used to doubt. Naruto turns, approaching the cage, pinning him down with the torii gates as she strides confidently into the cage, "Are you saying I should sit paralyzed by fear, doing nothing? That's not in my nature... not anymore. Not for things that matter,"
He glares at her as she enters his space, "How can you be so confident when you can't even help Sasuke?!" He demands. Naruto hears another question in it, one he's aimed at himself more than her.
She looks in his large red eye directly, putting her hands in his fury, "The moment I start second-guessing myself, it'll all be over, 'ttebayo!" She grins, "I'll do something about all of it! Sasuke and this stupid war!"
The Kyuubi's lid lowers slightly as he looks at her so closely, "I see the little baby has finally learned to stand up for herself instead of blustering," He says.
Naruto tilts her dead, then grins, bright and self-assured.
"Y'know what, Kyuubi? I hope, one day, I can do something about the hate inside you too, 'ttebayo!" The fox is clearly baffled by her words, shocked and disbelieving, "We've put each other through a lot of hell, but it's super exhausting being hateful all the time... believe me- I know!"
"How stupid are you?! I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune!" He roars, "I haven't fallen so far that I'll let a little baby influence me! I am a mass of malevolence!"
Naruto shakes her head, putting her hands on her hips, "No one is just one thing, Kyuubi!" Then, she salutes him, "I'm not a little baby anymore and I think it's worth trying," She twirls away, bringing her full awareness back to the outside as the being that's known her longer than anyone else stares at her with wide eyes.
"Later!"
"We've got company, Octopops!" Naruto gripes.
Bee looks at her back, "Enemy?"
"Not unless Granny decides I'm better off dead, dattebayo!" Naruto grimaces, "It's Granny and the Raikage,"
Before Bee can even reply to that, the two Kage land in front of them, Aye crushing the earth beneath his feet. Naruto can sense the absolute worry and fury in their chakra, though Tsunade's more resigned than anything. The old woman does know her well, so she probably expected this.
Bee, on the other hand, has a short jolt of lust beside her. What the...?
"Bee!" Aye roars, "What are you doing staring at the Hokage's chest?! Have some shame or respect or both, damn it!"
Bee is panicking next to her. His brother must be someone hard for him to handle. Naruto can relate and Tsunade looks ready to swing her around by her pigtails again, "No no, b-brother! Ya just shook me up a little, that's all man!" Even with his shades Naruto can tell his eyes dropped to Tsunade's boobs again, "But her breasts are definitely big~"
Also a true statement. Naruto doesn't envy the woman's back pain! Even as average as Naruto's breasts are, she's put anti-grav seals in her bras so she can avoid the backaches! She's offered the same for Hinata and Ino- privately! Sakura would get all twitchy about not being offered if she knew. Karin and Ino may have the guts to make fun of Sakura's itty bitties, but Naruto chooses life.
"We can to stop you two!" Aye shouts, cutting off the direction of the conversation... that he started, "You two won't take another step!"
Katsuyu is the Tsunade, who is staring at Naruto with a proud sort of awe, sitting on the woman's shoulder. Katsuyu remarks on the power and quality of her use of chakra, making Naruto's lips nearly twitch into a smile.
"Brother, c'mon man! Ya gotta let Naruto get goin'!" Bee says back to his brother, "I promise I'll keep an eye on the girl!"
Aye snaps, pointing angrily at his younger brother, "What are you saying?! This is a battle to protect the two of you!" He roars, "If you're caught-!"
"Then jackass can complete his jutsu," Naruto interrupts, "I heard it all from, Iruka-nii, dattebayo!"
Aye huffs and puffs, completely incensed, "And you still plan on going?! You're both morons!"
Naruto can sense things have only gone more downhill in the battles. Things are going wrong, so many places she can't yet reach, and here she is, being talked down to by an old man who has no indoor voice. Yes, she's aware that makes her a hypocrite.
"I can't stand by while everyone fights a war for me!" Naruto hollers back, "If we win at the cost of everyone dying, I'll be the only one left, dattebayo!" She can't be alone again. Naruto can't go back to those empty lonely days, "There's no meaning in that! I won't allow it!"
"It's better than the world ending! Everyone else thinks they're willing to give up their lives for you!"
Naruto clenches her fists, putting ready to pull a hiraishin kunai from her sleeve, "I'm supposed to sit by while that happens?! I'm human too!"
"I don't want your petty reasons!" Aye cuts in, just as loud as her, "I won't let you by!"
Even with the natural speed of this mode, Aye is fast, striking her back and sending her flying. Naruto lands on her feet, leaving gouges in the earth as she continues to slide from the heavy momentum from the blow. She turns a pleading gaze to her own Kage, her cousin and friend, "Granny Tsunade, you have to understand, right?!" Naruto pleads, "Let me put an end to this war!"
Tsunade's gaze and chakra is troubled, "Granny... please,"
"We are moving now as officers of the Allied Shinobi Forces. Stopping you is the will of that army... and as Hokage, you will listen to me, Naruto," Tsunade says.
Naruto sighs, hands on her hips, "So that's how it is, huh?" The two Kage narrow their eyes, nodding, "I'll just have to force you to let me pass then!" She'd like to keep as much chakra as possible. So, even as fast as Aye is, Naruto will have to be faster without the hiraishin just yet.
Naruto tries to speed passed him, but he's on her like white on rice. Aye cuts off every path she takes to escape, frustrating her, "Pretty spry for an old dude, Raikage-san," Naruto remarks, annoyed.
"There is no shinobi faster than me now that the Yondaime Hokage isn't around," Aye warns. Little does he know, he's given her confirmation that she could escape him with the hiraishin. Tsunade notices the old man's mistake, opening her mouth to warn Aye.
"You knew my dad?" Naruto says, cutting her off. Still, she's curious. Naruto hadn't realized they'd met.
Aye keeps an eye on her, "We battled many times. There was never a ninja that could surpass him," Naruto suppresses the urge to giggle. Shows what he knows, "I heard from the Sannin Jiraiya that he may have been the child of some prophecy- a savior- but if he was the savior, where is he now? He failed against the Kyuubi! That's why he's not here! Have you learned nothing as his daughter?!"
Naruto snaps, flinging a hiraishin kunai and sending Aye flying with a kick to the head after she flashes next to him, "Don't talk about my dad... He didn't fail at all!" Her blow wasn't hard enough to hurt him, but it is a warning to not open his mouth about her father like that.
She's only seemed to enrage the Raikage further, "If you insist on going.. then I'll just have to kill you here!"
Tsunade is horrified, "What?! Wait a second, Raikage-!"
"It'll at least buy us some time until the Kyuubi reforms! The Enemy won't be able to fulfill their plans until then!" Aye shouts, aiming a punch in Naruto's direction. She's about to throw another hiraishin, when Bee gets in his brother's path, stopping the attack. Aye nearly stumbles in surprise, "Bee?!"
"If that's the way this is goin' down, then I'll have too kick it too," Bee says, holding his brother's fist, "If I'm gone, then the enemy can't take me either, ya dig? I'll offer up my life so this little lady can make it to the battlefield,"
Naruto shakes her head, "Bee..."
Tsunade has apparently had enough of the Raikage's outburst, especially as he's made a move to kill Naruto. The whole of the Leaf forces would riot and turn on Kumo, which is the last thing they need. There's also the fact that Suna would surely join them, setting Iwa off, "Raikage! The Allied Forces decides what we will do- not you alone! You need to respect those wishes and live up to your role as a general!"
"I have to win this war at all costs!" Aye shouts back, "And I will do anything to fulfill that goal!"
"Then it's just as Killer Bee said; why are you aiming at Naruto? Do you want the Leaf to turn on Cloud in the middle of an active battlefield?!" Tsunade retorts. Aye twitches, like his temper had prevented him from considering that full, still he presses on.
"I knew that I might have to kill my little brother as Raikage! But now that I have a choice, I would kill Naruto over Bee!" Aye reasons, "Bee has control as a jinchuriki and can use the bijuudama! He has more tactical advantages! Bee! Let go!"
Bee glares, "Never you punk ass!"
"You're jinchuriki! Your lives are not yours to control!" Aye screams, "You are part of the power balance of our countries; you serve as the strength of the villages you live in!! You have no right to make decisions as individuals! Understand this already, you morons!"
Naruto is going to slap him. She's going to slap him so hard, however, Bee speaks, not a hint of a rap in his tone, "That might be true, but I got this feelin' in my heart that I just can't throw away as an individual man. Maybe if I lost that, I'd just be a weapon, but I'm a little brother,"
Aye flounders, "Why do you put so much faith in her?"
Bee connects his fists with his brother's, "If ya give me a fist pound, ya can read my heart, right brother?"
They stand there for a moment, but it's probably longer for them, so Naruto tries to rush passed the Raikage again, unwilling to waste more chakra on another hiraishin just yet. Aye senses her intentions, breaking the fist bump he shares with Bee, and knocks her back.
SHe trades a few blows with him, as she is skilled, but this man has fought Uzumaki before and is prepared for her taijutsu. As they break away from each other, Bee moves in, doing some kind of clothes-line technique that Naruto has never seen before.
Again, the Raikage knocks his brother away, only, Bee grabs him with a tentacle as Aye charges her again.
"Bee?!"
"Ya still haven't got it, brother? Ya idiot, ya bastard!" Bee smirks at his brother.
Naruto grins, "Thanks, Octopops!" Naruto runs, moving as quick as she can so she can pass, but Aye swing Bee right into her, forces the pair of jinchuriki to collide. Kage level shinobi are no joke. Naruto doesn't want to serious hurt this guy, it'd cause a lot of problems, but he's run his mouth a lot and hurt her and Bee's feelings quite badly. So, she's started to consider breaking a few of his bones.
Nonetheless, she wants to convince him or pass him without that sort of violence.
"Hokage!" Aye shouts, "Help me out already!"
Tsunade frowns, having been watching this whole charade. Aye doesn't understand Naruto, not as well as he should at least. She may not be ready for the hat yet, but the young woman is strong enough to hold the title if that were all it required. Naruto's not going anywhere until she's convinced him or passed him without injury. So, she stands between Aye and the two jinchuriki, chin held high.
"Granny..." Naruto breaths.
"Hokage... you better have a good explanation for this," Aye growls.
Tsunade glares at Aye, "Naruto is more than a jinchuriki. Besides, if she dies here, even at the time of the Kyuubi's revival, it will have no jinchuriki! It can only be contained by Uzumaki with a certain chakra density! Naruto is the last of that ability!" Tsunade carefully does not say 'Because of your father' to Aye, "In a war with no certain victor, what we should be doing is putting in our strength! Naruto is Konoha's strongest kunoichi... I'm letting them pass!"
Naruto beams, blushes, and cheers, "That's the Granny I know!"
"Aren't you making a one-sided selfish decision, Hokage?" Naruto will slap this bastard. That's exactly what he was doing! Ugh! Men! "What guarantee do you have that Naruto will prevail?"
Bee moves in again, forces a pinned fist bump with his brother. Aye's face becomes pained, but still he's a stubborn one, and he and Bee separate to opposite sides of the field, "You're both valuable jinchuriki! You are special beings to our country... that's why I can't let you pass. No matter how strong you both are, the other seven have been sealed already!"
Bee moves in again, holding his arm in that way again, "Both me and Naruto will put our unwavering confidence to the test! We ourselves are the only ones who know this best!"
"Then come! Let's see which of our Lariat's is strongest!" Aye challenges.
When then connect, Naruto gets the strange urge to cry, as Bee sends his brother flying backwards, making the older man's body tear up the earth and leaving a dent in the strone as he crashes to a stop. It's an awesome sight, incredible and amazing, "Wow..."
"Naruto and I aren't just our jinchuriki powers. Our real strength comes from these bodies of ours!" Bee raps, standing over his brother, "The words I got from you, my brother, I can't discard; As long as I got those I believe in, I can use my strength with no regard,"
Aye's chakra seems to cool, not longer a hot mass of lightning as Bee speaks, "I see... The words I said at the waterfall..."
Bee grins, "Ya finally noticed, ya idiot, ya bastard! Lookin' down and lecturin' big bro is no longer a dream, yo!"
Aye sits up from the cratered earth with a grumble, "You're special to me. We're the strongest tag team. I remember saying that to you, but can such simple words really make you strong?"
"I'm not just here for the country or the village, but you too, bro!" Bee states, then raps, "But ya always try to protect me too much. Ya don't trust my power to be enough. Becomin' a jinchuriki, I lost many things- my heart was achin'- but that's how I learned to see what I still got, now my heart's blazin'! My power don't just come from the bijuu, y'know? That thing I already had before I got the bijuu started to shine and it's as big and bright as the sun- it's sublime! Naruto-chan has suns within as well, two's enough to make her power swell~"
Naruto realizes what he's talking- singing- about. Granted, she feels like she has more than two... but really, they were the first. Always with her, "Yeah... they're a lot like the sun, 'ttebayo," Naruto smiles.
"Uzumaki Naruto, what are these two suns of yours? Aye asks.
Naruto grins, "Mom and Dad, dattebayo!"
Aye seems baffled by her answer, which she expected honestly. People wouldn't understand her experiences with them completely, as she's probably the first jinchuriki to have her parents seal them in the first place, let alone seal their own chakra inside too, "The Yondaime Hokage and Uzumaki Kushina? But, they died as soon as you were born didn't they?"
Naruto smiles, touching her seal, "Dad sealed some of their chakra inside, so when I needed them, I got to meet them! He wanted me to meet mom really bad, because he loved us both so much! He did it for me!" She giggles, "When I got this power, mom told me everything she could. Dad fought the masked man and realized two things; First, Masked Bastard would cause a disaster in the future and second, that I was the only one that could stop him so long as I could master the Kyuubi's power,"
"So you're saying he entrusted everything to you? Maybe he wasn't the child of prophecy after all..."
Naruto shrugs, "Don't know if we was or wasn't, 'ttebayo. I don't really care either. To me, he was just the dad that loved and believed in me. My father died. He died with my mother to protect me and our village. It was just an instant, but they left me so many things! All those things made me believe I can do this! If he was this child of prophecy, then he entrusted that to me too!" Naruto pounds her fist against her chest once, holding it over her heart.
"Why did you not use the hiraishin again besides to kick me?" Aye asks.
Naruto blinks, then puts her hands on her hips and looking at him like he's the idiot here, "Waste of chakra! I gotta lot of places to get to and a lot of Hiraishin to get in range of, 'ttebayo!"
Aye snorts, "Just go already before I change my mind... and both of you... come back alive,"
"You got it!"
"Naruto, Bee-san," Tsunade calls, tossing them each a hitai-ate. When Naruto looks at it, she sees the character for shinobi engraved on the plate of the headband. Naruto smiles. So Granny knew she'd do this and was ready for it. Naruto pulls her Konoha headband off, sealing it into the breast of her haori- over her heart- before putting this one on.
"Thanks Granny... I'll see you later!"
They're running to a central enough point when Naruto hear's the familiar voice of Nara Shikaku in her head. It's been awhile since she's heard his voice, and it's grave, so she's immediately paying attention. Inoichi's chakra is intermingled with the voice, so they must be using some serious tech to reach her so far,
"Naruto-chan, Bee-dono, please listen closely. I'm going to explain the enemy's strategy and methods to you," Shikaku falls up his words with a summary of the situations across battlefields. The white zetsu are causing a lot of problems and mistrust in the ranks, breaking them up.
Naruto was wondering what those fuzzy signatures were.
He further pleads with her to not get caught and to not try and speak to him- it's almost like he doesn't know her!- to which Naruto promises only not to get caught. She can talk as she fights, she's done it lots. Not to mention her motor mouth makes a great distraction.
He then explains the reanimated ninja popping up everywhere. They're undying and require sealing, something Naruto is very capable of. In fact, she can probably improve the seal that the forces are using to gather info.
"No matter what, I'll defeat Madara and put an end to this war!" Naruto promises.
As they run, a group of 'Kumo Ninja' approach. Naruto bares her teeth in a mean grin, as the first one speaks to Bee, "This war is a mess- Ugh!" Naruto strikes out with a throat strike, forcing the fake back and breaking the transformation as it transforms into a tree, "You feel gross, 'ttebayo. Make like a tree and leaf,"
Bee laughs, drawing his weapons, "Just tell me who and I'll collaborate too,"
"All of them are that damn ugly aloe vera bastard," Naruto states, "Let's get them done, Bee-jii" Naruto rushes to the center of the group, creating those tails behind her then making a ton of rasengans to strike nine at the same time. One comes up behind Bee, so she's quick to grab the stragglers with her 'tails' and push them into a giant rasenshuriken formed on her back with five tails.
The flat barren area they were in is now filled with trees, transformed into a woodsy area. All that training trying to make a bijuudama really worked out for her! At least she can make rasengan and rasenshuriken in this form now.
"I should thank your brother after I slap him," Naruto says, "These guys seem slow as hell by comparison,"
Several Zetsu run to form a group meshing together into a mess that looks like a horrific mass of a humanoid venus flytrap, "I won't let you affect me!" In response, Naruto holds up an index finger, forming a teeny rasenshuriken and flicks it at the monster's leg, crippling it.
Then, she runs through handseals rapidly, "Kuchiyose! Stall Destruction!" Gamahiro appears, crushing the creature in a killing blow, "Lookin' cool as ever, Hiro-san!" It's a risk, her next plan, but there's not long until sunrise and with the sun it'll only get worse for the army, "I'll leave Gamahiro-san here with a clone and we'll go! I'm going to all the battlefields at once- we're at a good point!"
Naruto summons several clones, all of which except one run off to get closer to a stable flash point for their designated hiraishin.
"Let's go, Bee-jii!" Naruto blows a kiss to Gamahiro, "Thanks for lookin' out, Hiro-san!" The toad croaks, waving in reply.
"Ya got it!" Bee says, following her. Hachibi is raging telling Bee to tell her to slow down. The use of her clones is such a bad idea!
Naruto looks over her shoulder at the man, "Stay as close as you can, okay? I'll grab you if I need to use the hiraishin and pull you along, 'ttebayo!"
They run, coming up on a one-sided battle between two shinobi from Suna and Kump and a reanimated Kumo shinobi. The chakra from the corpse feels staticy, like when you rub a balloon and stick it to your head. A kekkei genkai user. Naruto throws a hiraishin, forming a rasengan in her hand, and brings it down on the corpse after flashing to the kunai.
"Uzumaki Fuuin!" She cries, touching her hand directly to the corpse after the rasengan in it dissipates. Lines of fuuinjutsu crawl across the body, locking it up tight even without the use of cloth. And with no tag to remove, seal being powered by the reanimation jutsu's chakra, there's no way someone is breaking this guy out.
Bee comes up behind her and toward the group, Naruto only having used a short range use of the hiraishin, "A little warning would have been nice, Naruto!"
Naruto grins, rubbing the back of her head, "Sorry!"
"Bee-sama! Why are you here?" The Kumo shinobi exclaims.
"You alright? You okay?" Bee asks his fellow Kumo ninja while the Suna guy approaches Naruto.
"Naruto-san! You shouldn't have come! That white guy is transforming into all our teammates!" The Suna man shivers, "But thank you! You saved our lives,"
Naruto nods, standing up from the sealed corpse, "We know,"
"We were hurrying to HQ with Eff to strength our defenses, but we lost sight of him!" The Kumo ninja reports.
Bee shares a look with her, before telling his comrade, "That Eff was, in fact, a white spy. So, you're, in fact, one lucky guy!" The two shinobi freak out, sticking close to each other. Naruto smiles. They've become friends- that's nice.
"Bee-jii! Let's hurry to the source. I sense very strong chakra near Gaara and his troops, 'ttebayo!" Naruto says, "Gaara and some other strong guy are fighting them!"
"That's the reanimated Kage! The Sandaime Raikage and Yondaime Kazekage are among them!" The Kumo ninja warns at them as they take off. Bee's face pales at the mention of his adopted father.
The Suna shouts, "Please help, Gaara-sama!"
"I got a clone on the way to him already!"
As she and Bee run along the edge of a forest, Naruto's stomach drops like a stone. There's two signatures that she would have never expected to feel coming directly toward them at a sedate pace. Naruto folds her lips inward as she and Bee slide top a stop as soon as they come into view.
"Uzumaki Nagato and Uchiha Itachi..." Naruto breaths, air forced out of her lungs in a backward gasp.
Bee looks at her in surprise, then back at the pair, "Ya know them, Naruto?"
"Yeah..."
Nagato looks at her with a sadness, apologetic, "I didn't think it would be you I would have to fight again, Cousin," He says. Both Itachi and Bee's brows shoot upward in shock, "You seem like you've grown,"
"I didn't think I'd get to see you again either, Cousin," Naruto nods, "Even if we have to fight, part of me is happy to see you again,"
Itachi, clearly surprised by the turn of events, speaks, "I see you've succeeded in controlling the Kyuubi's power. I didn't think you would grow so much," Naruto grins with a peace sign.
"I expected it- she's my sibling student and clan head after all," Nagato chuckles, "Then that means you've managed to overcome your hatred,"
Naruto grins, "As much as any human can so far, dattebayo! It's thanks to you and everyone else, including mom and dad, that I was able to make it this far,"
Itachi looks at Naruto with the utmost seriousness, "Naruto-san, I have something to ask you," Itachi says. Which is fair, Naruto has some things to ask him too. However, before either gets a chance to ask their questions, both of the men tense and Naruto can feel Itachi's chakra heat up to an insane degree before releasing a great fireball jutsu.
Bee's quick to draw and cut the attack with Samehada, allowing Naruto to preserve her chakra. Samehada whines in Bee's hand, whimpering like an animal as it retreats to Bee's back, "Aw man, was that too hot? Sorry buddy and thanks a lot,"
With the attack cut, Itachi's brows are high on his head as he says, "Samehada?... So Kisame is already..."
Naruto doesn't care about that, "I was about to ask you a question, dattebayo!" She shouts, puffing up her cheeks.
"Don't forget; someone's controllin' 'em," Bee states. Oh, that's right. She'd almost forgotten, distracted by the burning questions she has for Itachi and his role in everything. Itachi's in the air with an impressive shunshin.
Naruto senses the shift in his chakra, "Above!" Nagato calls in warning.
The younger Uzumaki is already up in the air to meet Itachi in a taijutsu bout, "What happened to Sasuke?" Itachi asks as they fight. Naruto doges his quick strikes, blocking some with sweeping counterattacks.
Naruto brings a knee up into his gut as she answers, "He wants to take revenge on Konoha!" She grunts, "That idiot joined the Akatsuki!"
Itachi's eyes widen, chakra becoming pained and hurt, "Why doesn't he return home?!" He strikes down with a kunai, which Naruto dodges and Bee comes in opposite to her in a pincer maneuver.
"He was told about your true mission, 'ttebayo!" Naruto replies, "And decided to destroy the village for your and your clan's sake! He's already killed Danzo, which is no big loss! Bastard was already a missing-nin himself when he did it! A lot of Danzo's crimes came to light!"
Itachi looks so pained, like he might start crying any moment, "Was it Madara? Did he make it to Sasuke before you did, Naruto-hime?"
"Yeah! He told me the truth about you as well!" Naruto and Bee both try and strike Itachi together, but he leaps backward, rejoining Nagato.
"I see..." Itachi sighs.
Naruto clenches her fist, heart breaking for the poor man- only a handful of years older than she- as she looks at him with bowed brows, "So it's true? The Uchiha tried to coup and you-!"
"Yes... Say no more, Naruto-hime," Itachi's voice pleads.
Nagato is looking at Itachi in shock, "Is that how it was? Itachi..."
Naruto's heart hurts. Danzo caused so much pain to the village and people living in it. They may never know how much Danzo has done and all the people he hurt, "You played the villain for the sake of the Village and Sasuke!" Naruto cries, "I don't think he ever stopped loving you... or his current hate would never be this strong, 'ttebayo. But instead of inheriting your will, he wants to destroy the Leaf! He wants to avenge you, his beloved brother, for all of your suffering,"
"Does the village know about this?" Itachi asks.
Naruto's brow furrows, "Kakashi and Yamato-taicho were there when he told me, but since we didn't have proof, they said it was best not to say anything. I don't think anyone else knows yet... but there's been a whole bunch of teams investigating Danzo's actions, dattebayo,"
"Then, if possible, never tell anyone! I want my clan's honor to remain intact within the village they helped found," Itachi pleads, "And in addition-!"
Nagato's hand raises, "My body is moving on its own!" Naruto feels the pull from his jutsu, dragging her forward and pulling her toward an incoming mass created by one of his paths. Naruto's quick to extend the tails pushing her off the the meteor and toward the river, which suits her well in dealing with Itachi's favored fire jutsus, "Excellent job dodging that, Naruto!" Nagato praises.
His praise makes her chest feel tight. This could have been them... this is something they could have had if Madara and Danzo hadn't manipulated everything around him. This feels like they're truly sibling students- truly clan members sparring- and it hurts that they never got to truly have it.
"I've gotten stronger since I faced Pain, 'ttebayo!" Naruto grins back.
Itachi is actively fighting his next command, though it's futile, "I'm leaving Sasuke to you," He says.
Naruto rolls her eyes. What a thing to say to her of all people! "I was already going to do that!"
"I was right then, to entrust you with that," Itachi says.
Nagato sags a bit now that Itachi has been away from him a while. He seems relieved at that, "Okay! Naruto, separate us further! I can't move well on my own!" Then, like a puppet on strings, Nagato performs familiar hand seals, "Kuchiyose!" The summons from her fight with him appear- the two headed dog and the roc, "...or maybe I can,"
"Where was this sense of humor when we were fighting before?!" Naruto runs through hand seals, "Uzumaki Suiton! Dancing Spout!" Two whirlpools form in the river before they rise up barrelling into the two summons and forcing Itachi further away to face Bee.
The roc summon takes to the air, only for it's wing to be hit by the spout, forcing it to stick to the ground. The dog, on the other hand, grows several more heads and gains strength. Naruto, starts nailing it with rasengan, massive ones, but it only grows more heads! Did it do this the last time she fought it? Well, Gamabunta was the mutt's opponent, still, she doesn't remember it growing more heads!
"Naruto! Defeat me first!" Nagato shouts, "She'll grow more heads the more you hit her with jutsu!"
Bee and Itachi's battle is surprisingly even, but soon Itachi joins Nagato on the grounded injured roc with his mangekyo on full display, "Bee-jii! Be careful, if you get hit with the ameterasu or tsukuyomi you're cooked!" She tries to warn, only, Itachi turns his eye on her, forcing something up our of her throat. It's a horrid feeling, though familiar. She's almost forgotten about the crow her forced down her throat the last time she saw him truly alive.
It forces its way out of her throat, it's head poking out of her mouth. The Uzumaki gags and chokes as the feathers tickle as it climbs out but it doesn't hurt weirdly enough.
"Good. It came out," Itachi remarks.
With one final choking gag, the bird is free. Itachi's eye begins to trickle blood, Nagato warning her of an impending ameterasu, only he tilts the roc's head to block the incoming strike from Bee against his well. Then, Itachi stops. The movement of his chakra is different and the bird no longer has its own mangekyo. There's no more foreign influence, at least not directly, on Itachi.
He does use ameterasu eventually, though he uses it on the multi-headed dog. Naruto leaps off the the beast as the flames burn. Itachi and Nagato share a few words that she can't hear before Itachi turns the attack on Nagato. It needed to be done, but Naruto still feels a pang as she watches her clansman burn with his summon.
"Rest well, Cousin," Naruto whispers.
Itachi lands next to her among the tree tops. She prepares to face him on her own, but he stops her, "I'm not longer being controlled, Naruto-hime. I layered a new genjutsu over the enemy jutsu; a much stronger one. With this, the Edo Tensei can be cancelled in terms of it's control," He looks at her with an apologetic sadness, "The genjutsu is an order... 'Protect the village of Konohagakure',"
Bee joins them as Itachi continues, "I set that crow so itself as a reaction of my mangekyo sharingan... just in case. I implanted the crow's left eye with a sharingan eye from my best friend and give the eye a command to use his mangekyo ability... The ultimate genjutsu ability of Uchiha Shisui- Koto Amatsukami," Itachi explains, "The genjutsu returned me to normal, but it's single use for the most part,"
"Ya talkin' about 'Shunshin no Shisui'? The fastest and most powerful genjutsu user in the Uchiha clan?" Be asks.
Itachi tells them about Shizui's eyes and their ability. Naruto also learns, through this conversation, that the crow's name is Toyou. He also explains how her obtained the eye. It's a tragic story, though a brave tale of an amazing shinobi. There's just one thing about all of this that confuses the blonde, "Why give me the eye?"
"You had the same ideals as Shisui. If the brother I left behind ever became a threat to the village, as the keeper of Shisui's eye, it would mean I betrayed his trust. You were the only one that could hope to correct this," Itachi looks hard at her, "You once said that Sasuke was like a brother to you. This is why I felt you could stop Sasuke if the time came. I believed Sasuke would transplant my eyes in order to gain the 'eternal mangekyo sharingan'. When that happened, the crow would have emerged with the order to protect Konoha. That was the plan anyway..."
Naruto leaps to share Itachi's tree, smiling at him, "Itachi-san... thanks for trusting me- you don't have to worry anymore," She starts, wiping the tear of blood from Itachi's cheek "You've done more than enough for the village; leave the rest to me... I'm just sorry that I couldn't save you too..."
Itachi smiles at her, like a weight has lifted from his shoulders, "I'm grateful, Naruto-hime... that my little brother has a friend like you. I'm so glad that I got to see the girl my mother shed tears for grow so strong,"
Naruto senses the shift in Nagato's body as she's about to reply to Itachi. Whipping her head around, Naruto grabs both Itachi and Bee, after throwing a hiraishin kunai as far as she can, before flashing to it and out of the path of destruction. Once clear, Bee takes on his bijuu cloak, attacking the incoming Nagato. As expected, Naruto can see Bee's chakra begin to be absorbed.
Nagato's hair turning red again is a surprise.
Naruto moves in now, entering a taijutsu battle and preparing to seal Nagato and free him from this suffering. However, in the battle, Nagato places his hand on Naruto's jinchuriki seal and beings to pull. sh*t! Before she can attempt to pull back, she's held in place by a new summon. sh*t sh*t!
It's a weirdly gross and mildly painful sensation. Naruto tries to ask her cousin how to free herself quickly, but Nagato is being completely controlled. Bee attempt so save her, but Nagato's strength is even greater than when she fought him, all the abilities of Pain in one body. Naruto feels something familiar, chakra hot as fire and forming up around a semi-mechanical Negato as kunai blind his abilities.
Hands skeletal chakra hands grab her and Bee, pulling her away from her cousin.
When she's free, she places her hand over her seal to check it. It's fine, thankfully, "Thanks for the save, Itachi-san!"
"Here he comes," Itachi warns.
Nagato sends up the base of his gravitational jutsu into the sky, the one meant to pull everyone and everything into it- creating a large meteor from all that it gathers. Naruto remembers it well, as its the debris from the crumbling of its collapse was used to hide many of her clones with the fight with pain. She's fairly sure the Kyuubi broke her out of it while she was half-transformed, "We'll be crushed to death if he gets us in this properly, dattebayo! He used it on me before!"
"How did you survive?" Itachi asks, bracing against the uprooting ground.
Naruto laughs awkwardly, "The Kyuubi was kinda on a rampage when he did it! So it's not exactly like it had the chance to finish before I escaped!"
"We're aight!" Bee raps, "We can still fight!"
"We should attack that black orb that Nagato threw into the air that is the source of the gravitational pull!" Itachi shouts. It's a weird hearing a man like him shout, "Our attacks will be pulled right into it!"
Bee's already in Hachibi form, "Already?!" Naruto exclaims, but she's quick to create a rasenshuriken, "Ready!"
All three of them launch some of their most powerful ninjutsu (or in Bee's case; bijuutsu) into the forming meteor. In the flash of light and power of their jutsu meeting his, Naruto flashes with hiraishin to behind Nagato, wrapping him with her chains. He seems to come back to himself with his chains wrapped around her, he turns his head to look at her, smiling, "I'm sorry, Naruto... Itachi..."
"You back with us, Nagato?" Naruto asks as Itachi and Bee stand in front of the bound Nagato, "I'll be sealing you in a second..."
Itachi tilts his head at the former leader of the first Akatsuki, "Do you have any final words, Uzumaki Nagato?"
"Naruto... I'm going back to where our teacher and Yahiko wait for me. I'll... be watching to see how your story ends. I'm sure it'll be amazing even if it's not the ending we all hope for... because you'll try and never give up... like I did," Nagato smiles at her and it strikes Naruto how healthy he looks even as he begins to fall apart and fade under her seal. He... has a similar smile to Naruto's late Aunt Rumi's in her pictures. It breaks Naruto's heart, "I believe in you, Cousin,"
Naruto finishes the seal, locking the false body away and freeing her cousin's soul, "You know it, Nagato! Tell Pervy Sage I said 'hi', dattebayo!" Naruto gives him a tearful grin with a thumbs up.
"Ha ha... Pervy Sage suits him," is the last thing Nagato manages to say, his voice carrying over the wind that blows through her hair.
"If I ever meet the Nidaime... I'm gonna slap him right across the face, dattebayo," Naruto states with conviction, "This jutsu sucks. Forcing you to fight people you don't wanna fight, even worse, people you care about," Toyou the crow lands on Naruto's shoulder again, attempting to preen her hair affectionately. It eases her temper somewhat.
Itachi looks at Naruto, his own determination obvious, "I'll take care of the Edo Tensei, you handle Madara, Naruto-hime," Itachi instructs. Naruto raises a challenging brow at him, placing her hands on her hips, however, Bee speaks before she can reem Itachi out.
"Ya can't kill these fools, only seal them. I heard there's no weak point to this jutsu," Bee says, concerned.
"Every jutsu has a weakness," Itachi disagrees.
Naruto's temper blows, hair blonge hair wavering dangerously. A haunted look falls over Itachi's face for a moment... that's right... their mothers were friends, weren't they? Well all the more convenient to cow him, "I said leave everything to me, didn't I? You've done enough for this world! For this village, dattebayo!"
Itachi smiles kindly at her, something like nostalgia in his face and chakra, "Don't try and do everything on your own. I'm perfect for stopping the Edo Tensei and have a plan,"
Naruto stomps her foot childishly, "You're the last person who gets to say that, 'ttebayo!"
"You said that 'It's thanks to everyone that you've come this far'. If, now that you have become more powerful, you start to forget others- to be arrogant and attached to your ego- then one day you may become just like Madara," Itachi warns, "I'm telling you this so that you won't wind up like me either. Don't... don't try and shoulder everything on your own, or else you'll be doomed to fail like I was. Remember, it's not that if you become Hokage everyone will acknowledge you, but that those acknowledged become Hokage- do not forget your friends,"
Bee places a large hand on her head, "I made a promise with a man named Iruka," He says, "I swore I would protect you in his place and that I won't let you go alone... I'm still alive after all! You don't have to protect everyone all the time,"
Toyou leaves Naruto's shoulder, flying over to rest on Itachi's raised arm as she wipes watery eyes. It's not that she forgot her friends, just, she wanted to protect them. It feels like all they've ever done is protect her, "I got a little obsessed... sorry," Itachi pulls out the sharingan from Toyou, gouging out the eye with his bare fingers, and turning Naruto's stomach, before crushing the eye in his fist, "What the hell, Itachi?!" Naruto retches.
Toyou squawks painfully before popping like a summon normally would, "Shisui's eye won't be usable for another ten years- you won't be able to use it against Sasuke," Itachi states.
"That wasn't the point!" She shrieks.
Itachi ignored her hysterics, continuing, "You don't need it anymore anyway. Now you'll be able to beat Sasuke on your own; for better or worse,"
"You can meet him too!" Naruto says, "You could-!"
"No," Itachi cuts her off, a sad bitter smile on his lips, "I tried to do everything on my own and failed... This time, I'll leave the matter to his friends," The blonde nods, accepting the man's decision, even if she thinks its a stupid one. What is with the Uchiha and being so annoyingly stubborn? (Said the Pot to the Kettle)
"In the end, you weren't just strong," Bee compliments Itachi as the other man turns to leave.
"Killer Bee... please take care of Naruto-hime,"
Bee agrees, "Oh yeah!"
Then, Uchiha Itachi is off for what is likely his final mission. Naruto was being truthful when she said she wished she could have saved him too... not jut for Sasuke's sake, or even all that went wrong, but because his chakra was truly gentle.
"Let's go too, Bee-jii!" Naruto says.
"Kazekage, what's that on your hand?!" Onoki calls to the young Kage as they battle the second Tsuchikage while the rest of the forces stall the other two. The Yondaime Kazekage was the most easily defeated, and it was an emotional event that Onoki was on the outside of.
Now, the young man has a seal that's just appeared on the hand he's holding up to control his sand.
Before the young man can answer, all Onoki can see is a vision of gold that appears right under his palm. A golden glowing young woman, with the signature golden chains of the Uzumaki clan. however, the golden hair and the appearing out of nowhere gives Onoki a horrific sort of deja vu. The Kazekage's eyes also widen in horror, but a worried sort, as the chains of the Uzumaki girl wrap around his predecessor and teacher, "Yo Gaara! Can't believe you left me out of this, 'ttebayo!"
"Naruto! What-?!"
Mu slips the chains before they tighten, the young woman- Naruto- is quick to try again, propelling herself with them and Gaara's sand as a springboard. She buries a version of that dastardly jutsu that bastard created into his former master, sending him spinning before grabbing him with her chains again, "An Uzumaki?! Excellent work!"
"Damn right, Mummy man!" She grins, "Uzumaki Fuuin! Dead Bolt!"
"Be careful. I'm-!" The seal takes effect before the words are out of his mouth and Naruto is caught by a cushy sand platform as she begins to descend.
The little blonde giggles, like she hadn't just easily done a task he and the Kazekage had been struggling with, "Thanks Gaara! You were amazing, dattebayo!" She grins. The Rasengan and hiraishin... there's no mistake! The Yellow Flash reproduced! She turns to him, with an embarrassed smile, "And you too... um... Tiny Gramps,"
Oh Sage! She's an idiot! "I'm the Tsuchikage," He grin becomes more friendly. What a strange girl.
The Kazekage isn't happy to see her in the least, "Why are you here?! How did you get out?! Why?!" He's never heard the young man's voice crack in such a way. It's almost amusing.
Naruto grimaces at Gaara's tone, squirming in place under his fury, "Well, y'see... I can explain," She should be the one to get angry, but she's never seen Gaara act this way before- it's so weird and off putting!
"Do you have one that will satisfy me?!" Gaara bellows.
Shikaku obviously starts to speak to Gaara and the old Tsuchikage, who says they need to continue the battles while they listen. Naruto follows the two, sitting on Gaara's sand platform. When Shukaku's explanation is finished, Gaara looks at her in concern, "I understand your running to all of the battlefields to identify the clones, but is it safe for you to use the Kyuubi's chakra that much? As someone who was a jinchuriki too, I worry,"
She puffs her cheeks out, huffing a faux annoyed breath, then smiles at him out of the corner of her eye, "I'm not gonna die before I reach my goals, 'ttebayo. Don't treat me like a little girl just because you're Kazekage," Then, she jumps down from Gaara's sand, "I'm going right! Gaara, you and Gramps Tsuchikage go left!"
The girl's off like a shot before either Kage replies, "So that's the Kyuubi jinchuriki... I understand the Hokage's warnings now,"
Gaara only sighs.
Naruto quickly flashes to the front of the battle with the Sandaime Raikage just as Temari tries to come up with a better fuuton user than her. Now, Naruto doesn't think she's more skilled than Temari, but... "There's me! Fuuton; Rasenshuriken! Uzumaki Chain Art; Adamantine Kendama!" Naruto spears her rasenshuriken on her chains, swinging it around at the former Raikage who manages to dodge the initial attack, before Naruto takes it directly in head while he's turned and nails him in the side. The aftermath creates a blast zone of expanding sworling chakra- a dome of a cutting hurricane.
There's a shift, like before with Nagato, when the Raikage seems to be completely under the control of someone else, not even aware enough to speak. Naruto didn't particularly want to speak to him anyway to be honest. She may not be about revenge, but she isn't above name calling and she would absolutely insult one of the men that ordered the extermination of her clan.
The one-eyed Kumo ninja's eyes widen, "Everyone! Get away from Raikage-sama!" He orders, "Earth users, prepare a wall!"
The forces are quick to follow those orders, the man grabbing Naruto by her haori to pull her over the forming barrier. She exclaims at the rough and rude handling. The man tells the group what the former Raikage's doing, the purpose of his attack. Naruto grimaces, as lighting is a weakness of her adamantine chains, but still uses them to slap barrier seals on the earth wall to reinforce further after the old shinobi reinforces with a rubber jutsu.
With the amount and force of the corpse's chakra, Naruto takes the Cloud ninja's warning seriously, snapping at the group that wish to attack at his exit point, particularly the Konoha shinobi. The one ones that don't seem to fully listen to the warning are Kiri and Iwa ninja. Suna listens to Temari's order, while Konoha listens to Naruto's.
After breaking through and causing some casualties, the Raikage goes down to three fingers instead of four.
"The Sandaime Raikage is the ultimate Shield and Spear... his body is incredibly resilient. Not even wind attacks can fully damage him in this state despite his lightnings weakness to it. He's the shinobi known to tangle one-on-one with bijuu with barely a scratch or even dodging..." The old man ninja says to her.
Naruto looks at the former Kage with furrowed brows and a frown, "Then what's that scar on his chest?" She points at the scar.
"He got that from taking on the Hachibi himself," He replies, "He never once spoke of the wound. It was his life's shame, so not even the Yondaime pried into it,"
Naruto grits her teeth in frustration. She's used too much of the Kyuubi's chakra too, leaving the state to recharge. There's something about the shape of the scar that bothers her too, so she plops down on the wall, sitting as still as she can to absorb nature energy as quickly as she can. Once done, Naruto stands, "Stay back, Uncle Rubber. My Adamantine Sealing Chains won't work on him until he's stopped with the lightning body thing. I wanna try something..."
Naruto creates a rasengan in her hand while channeling energies for Toad Kumite. Man, she hopes this works or she's super boned. The two charge at each other, Naruto slipping to the side when they almost meet, then places her rasengan with Kumite into the Kage's order, forcing it to embed his attack into his own chest. He starts to fray and fall apart, shock on his face, "Hell yeah!"
The second his chakra stops channeling into whatever jutsu protects him, Naruto wraps him in chains, "Uzumaki Fuuin! Dead Bolt!" Naruto seals up the former Kage his body completely crumbling under her jutsu and the body used to power the Edo Tensei lays there with a fuuinjutsu array covering it.
"Amazing, Naruto-hime!" One of her fellow Leaf shinobi cheers.
The rubber shinobi approaches her, "It appears Raikage-sama's spear was stronger than his shield... That was a clever deduction, Naruto-san,"
Naruto grins, "Thanks, it was the shape of the scar that clued me in, 'ttebayo! But, I think Gaara might be the one with the strongest shield. Speaking of, I'm gonna go help seal that Nidaime Mizukage. Everyone here should take a short break and get medical attention if they need it. Shikaku-ossan said your division hasn't had contact with the white Zetsu, so you're not going to have any clones running around yet, but be on your guard," Naruto hands a hiraishin kunai to Temari, one of the few she trusts with it, "Throw that with a bit of chakra to call and I'll flash to it!"
Temari nods seriously, tucking the kunai away.
Then, Naruto's off to join Gaara and the Tsuchikage and the other half of the forces in Gaara's division.
It seems as though the Mizukage is giving Gaara and Onoki a hard time, his jutsu unsuited to face him. Gaara's got him stuck, a giant pyramid of sand stucking out of the earth with a head poking out. There's an incredibly fast body of chakra moving about that Gaara's dealing with, so Naruto goes right for the Kage hiding in the pyramid. He startles when he sees her grinning face, "Hello, Young Lady!" He says, "Have you come to help the young Kazekage?"
"Gaara's strong, dattebayo," She replies, "He doesn't need my help fighting you. I'm here to seal you,"
He blinks, smiling oddly at her, "My jutsu will remove all those paper seals faster than they can activate you know?"
Naruto grins, letting her chains extend from her back, much to the surprise of the dead man, "Not mine it won't,"
"I had wondered if Uzushio was part of the alliance!" He exclaims jovially. He seems like a weird guy, having fun despite not wanting to win.
Naruto frowns, sticking her chains into the pyramid just as Gaara defeats the Mizukage's jutsu, much to the man's shock, "It stopped?!" He gasps at the jutsu form shimmering in gold below. Gaara joins her, standing upon a cloud of sand.
"I hid some gold dust in my sand clone, then I used that thing's heat to melt the gold so that it would stick to your jutsu. Gold is twenty times heavier than water, that's why its movements slowed, not to mention, Naruto here held your attention long enough that you wouldn't make any unpredictable moves," Gaara explains to the former Mizukage. Naruto throws up a grin and a peace sign, "Your hail was enough to chill it and the gold, which has good heat conduction, also helped cool down the steam of your jutsu,"
"You did well- worthy of a Kage," Gaara finishes.
"I'll be sealing you know," Naruto tells him, a fuuinjutsu array crawling along the pyramid and his face begins to crack and fall away.
The dead man smiles, "You really are incredible kids!" He laughs, "And you would make quite the lovely couple," Gaara blushes, his ears heating up as Naruto tilts her head in bafflement. They don't feel that way about each other, besides, they'll both be Kage! That wouldn't work.
The man's laugh carries on the wind as he crumbles under her seal.
The two companies of Gaara's division meet up again, Temari immediately checking on her brother, then moving on to Naruto kindly. Gaara speaks up with orders, "Contact HQ to update them on our situation," He orders of the rubber guy from Kumo, who is apparently intel division.
"Yes sir!"
Temari turns to the rest of the forces, shouting, "The injured will stay here for medical! The ones that can still move will await orders from HQ!"
The old Tsuchikage, pops his back a couple of times, "We'll probably be sent as support for another unit," He says. Gaara says that the old man should probably go to medical too, but he reuses, stating, "I'm fine now,"
"Don't over do it, Old Man," Temari says, causing Onoki to grumble about being Tsuchikage.
"Naruto," Gaara says, "You're a clone, right? Where is the original?"
Ino is trying to make suggestions about how to figure out who the clones are that have infiltrated this battleground, when the glow of a hiraishin seal lights up on her back, Naruto appearing among the three younger members of Ino-Shika-Cho, immediately next to the Yamanaka who stands more sentral on the battlefield, "Thanks for the lift, Ino-chan," She says, then gets started.
"Naruto-chan!" Ino cheers.
Karin screams a bit further in the distance, "Naruto-sama!"
"Naruto-chan?!" Naruto hears a surprisingly familiar voice and feels a cool chakra. Haku?
"Dad said you'd be coming," Shikamaru chuckles, "Couldn't stay away, could you? Idiot,"
There's a white haired man in a barrier, Naruto tilting her head to look at him. He's got a Leaf hitai-ate, but she doesn't recognize him. Choza greets her with a relief, as the company holding this barrier up look beyond exhausted. Said white haired man blinks in surprise at her sudden appearence, "Naruto...?" He asks puzzled.
"It's a miracle that Raikage-sama allowed this," Darui comments.
Naruto giggles, covering her mouth, "Like he had a choice! Besides, it's rude for a man not to listen to smarter women like me and Granny Tsunade," Darui wrinkles his face, like those are familiar words that he doesn't want to hear, "She also believes I won't die before I become Hokage, dattebayo!"
"Tsunade... said that?" The white haired man says. Naruto looks at him with confusion. So he's someone that knows the old lady? He's pretty young looking, handsome, and his chakra feels... gentle, "Who is this girl?"
Before Naruto can open her mouth and answer for herself, Shikamaru actually takes some initiative, "She's Head of the Uzumaki Clan, Daughter of the Yondaime Hokage, student of Jiraiya, and the Kyuubi Jinchuriki," She snorts, "She's also an idiot that's been yapping about being Hokage since we were in the Academy together,"
"Don't be rude, Shikamaru! I'll tell you mom!" Naruto huffs, "I'll find all the damn zetsu and seal all the corpses that Karin-chan couldn't reach, 'ttebayo. Just watch your clouds," She takes off, chains spreading across the battlefield.
"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru snorts, turning his attention back to Kato Dan, "Dad said Tsunade's already chosen her as successor- all that would be needed is the vote of the jounin, acting council, and Daimyo... and the Daimyo already adores her..."
"Naruto-chan is going to be Hokage," Ino agrees.
Two disguised Zetsu are rushing a medical tent manned by Sakura and Shizune just as the next clone arrives at the medical company's location. She flashes to Sakura in particular, intercepting the attacking zetsu with two rasengan to their faces.
"You okay, Sakura-chan? Shizune-nee?" Naruto asks standing to her feet after planting the Zetsu in the ground, "Everyone in the medical area is safe right now; these were the only Zetsu here. You're about to be flooded by injured, but anyone who passes my barrier is safe, 'ttebayo. Uzumaki Fuuin; Adamantine Barrier!"
A broadcast of chains expands over the medical camp, an array of fuuinjutsu appearing after they retreat back to Naruto, leaving a large barrier behind. Everyone in the camp stares in awe, Neglected injured weeping with relief as they're carried off by medics, "I've fought enough white Zetsu to make this seal barrier now-" She whipes her head in the direction she sense Hinata's chakra in distress, as well as several others, "I've got to go,"
The most distressed signature is Hinata's, three white Zetsu attacking her three on one and she's exhausted, so she is who Naruto flashes to next, blocking the Zetsus' swords with her arms, then extending the tails of her Kyuubi chakra form to cast three rasengan to send them spinning, "Can I cut in, Hina-chan?"
"Naruto-chan!" Her best friend rasps, both in annoyance and relief.
Her eyes and Neji's have gotten so tired, Neji was blind for a bit there due to the overuse. Naruto is practically glowing, beautiful and resplendant as something that looks like glowing fox tails spring from her lower back and her arms extend, each wielding a rasengan and seals to take care of the hiding clones and some of the weaker Edo Tensei corpses. Once those in her general vacinity are clear, Naruto kneels down, expression worried, "You okay, Hinata-chan?"
"It's really you!" She chokes, "For a second I thought..."
"Naruto-san!" Neji calls, several other ninja falling in around her including Kiba, Shino, and an Iwa guy about their age with a beard. Neji's chakra is highly paranoid and tense, to be expected, "Why didn't anyone tell me you arrived?!"
The Iwa guy crosses his arms in a huff, "She just got here! I was in the middle of fighting when she appeared!"
"Your smell is different than before, Naruto!" Kiba remarks, Akamaru barking in agreement, "And what about you, Neji? Shouldn't you have noticed her first?!"
"She looks different than normal! And her chakra is different than usual too!" Neji snaps. Kiba mocks the elder Hyuuga, saying he could have mentioned noticing someone new.
Neji ignores Kiba, stepping forward with his Byakugan still active, "Are you really Naruto-hime?!" He demands, "You're not one of those white things are you?!"
"I'm Naruto, dattebayo!" She huffs.
"Can you prove that?" Neji narrows his eyes, though his chakra is hopeful.
Naruto smirks, "Would kissing you again prove it?" Hinata makes a choked noise between a giggle and a gasp. Neji's whole face turns red, though he relaxes a bit now knowing it's her.
"You didn't tell me that, Naruto-chan!" Hinata groans. She knew Naruto by her eyes, her warmth, "Sorry you arrived to so much suspicion... these things have caused a lot of chaos on the battlefield,"
Naruto beams, throwing an arm around her best friend, "I can sense these things, they have a lot of malicious intent, so now you won't be sitting on the defensive, dattebayo!" Naruto's smile softens to something sweet, "Thanks for always showing me the way, Hina-chan. I know you cause you a lot of worry. Now, let's go take care of these creepy freaks!"
Another Naruto clone joins Kakashi and the combined forces of the ambush company and part of Kakashi's division. White Zetsu are piling in toward Kakashi and his unit. She appears right beside Kakashi, touching his arm where the hiraishin seal sits, before leaping forward to get between the Zetsu and the unit.
"Looks like reinforcements arrived for us too," Kakashi says. He's trying to keep a calm composure for his troops, but the feeling of Naruto's chakra is unsettling and fiery- so close to the Kyuubi's as she stands there golden and glowing like a beacon among the shade of the trees. Still, what presses him more is worry. Here she is, putting herself into blatant danger and exposing herself to Madara's army that wish to capture her so badly.
He's a man that's lost so much, too much, and it was bad enough that Sakura and Gai were in the depths of these battles, but at least he took heart that his sensei's child was safe. Oh, to be sure, he believes in her strength, her now incredible power, but... he believed Minato and Kushina were too strong to die too.
"She's gotten more annoying," Zabuza mutters, though his tone a bit impressed next to Kakashi.
Naruto scans the battlefield, her eyes taking everything in quickly. The reanimated corpses feature some familiar faces, one of which is Kimimaro of the Sound. She hasn't seen him since she was twelve years old, but she remembers the pain of his chakra, his kekkei genkai causing his body suffering. And Chiyo of the Sand stands among the dead come to life. It pains Naruto to see her, a puppet mistress made a puppet.
"I'll be sealing you all soon," She states, "I'm a lot stronger than the last time any of us met, dattebayo,"
Kimimaro looks at her consideringly, approvingly almost, "See you makes me realize how much time has passed,"
Chiyo chuckles, "I knew you'd be incredible,"
Naruto stands straight and tall, the tails of her Bijuu Mode appearing and chains clanking threateningly behind the tails.
He'd been warned she was coming, expected it even, but he hadn't realized that she got him with a hiraishin or when she'd done it. During their spars? The few sparse moments they grabbed a bite to eat for old times sake? When Naruto appears, pushing down his head from her hand flashing to the Hiraishinmark there, she uses him as a springboard to go for the Zetsu they face. Theirs is the black one, the more eerie one, but she strikes out with a rasengan into a mass of the white clones attempting to take out the Daimyo.
She shred several trees in doing so, though more spring up from the dead Zetsu because of the nature of her chakra at the moment.
"Is that...?" Mei asks, puzzled to the two Leaf Shinobi with her. Chojuro's behind her, protecting her back as usual, and looking at the girl with shock as she barrels her body toward the black Zetsu.
Raidou can't help but sigh, "That's our Naruto-hime," He says, "She always gets heated up and charges right on in,"
Genma nods in agreement, "She's been that way since she was a kid..." He'd normally say this with much more fondness, however, the little idiot has left her protection and is just throwing herself everywhere and causing all kinda of damage to the land as she starts a rasenshuriken without thinking of where she is! The blast wave of that thing is reportedly incredible!
Still, a part of Genma is proud to have taught her a portion of the skills she's showing off now.
Back in HQ, Inoichi of Intel and the Sensory company are all reporting back to the Kage and Shikaku. Inoichi relays every bit of reported intelligence to them as quickly as he can about the turning tides of the war.
"Naruto-chan has arrived on every front of battle! Division Four has successfuly sealed their enemies upon her arrival! Divisions one and two together have sealed all but one enemy and are relying on her identification of the enemy! They're mowing through them! Division three has turned the tide of their battle! Division five has taken control of their battle as well! And Medical is defended well thanks to a seal Naruto-chan placed!" Inoichi reports. He remembers, back when Ino and Naruto were just little girls, an evening a tiny Naruto appeared at his door with tears in her eyes, looking hopeless and heartbroken, and now she's the linch pin of a battle ground.
Tsunade looks smugly at Aye, eyebrow raised as morale improves in general and their forces now have the upper hand. Aye just huffs, turning away in what resembles a pout.
"Madara is inching closer and closer to the jinchuriki... Concentrate all our remaining forces and give it everything we've got!" Shikaku shouts.
However, the room goes cold when Ao shouts, "Hold on a second!"
Naruto may no longer be in Bijuu Mode, at least this clone of her, but her senses are still sharp and there's a presence of absolute malice and strength near them. One is that of the mummy man she already sealed, but the other feels a little like Sasuke but a whole lot more powerful.
On one of the rock formations, the mummy man makes himself known, Naruto clicks her tongue, "Did my seal break?!"
"No. Mu-sama managed to split himself off with his ability... even in that condition. That was my mistake," Onoki states. Naruto disagrees- she should have sensed his chakra after sealing him.
Besides, it's the other one she's more worried about.
A man with long hair appears over the crest of the formation, obvious an Edo Tensei of an Uchiha man. He looks familiar to her. Naruto swears she's seen his face before, but she's never sensed a chakra like his. While it's a little like Sasuke's, that's only because of the Uchiha familial nature of the chakra. There's a meshing within it, like there's parts that don't belong. There's whole piece that feel grafted on to his pools and it's gross.
It feels like Yamato.
"So you've come... Uchiha Madara!"
TBC
