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Chapter 293: The 4th Great Ninja War? (3)
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Flashes blinked in and out of existence as the 2nd and 4th Hokage used ‹Flying Thunder God› to flank around Neji and attack him.
Hashirama Senju had his hands clasped in front of him as vines after vines erupted from within the ground and rushed at Neji.
Mū, the 2nd Tsuchikage, was sneaking around the battlefield under his invisibility– shooting his laser beams of destruction at Neji whenever he thought he found an opening.
* * *
All this time, Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, watched the battle happen through her Jinchuuriki, Minato's eyes. Observing Neji clash with these four legendary shinobi with relative ease.
When Minato and Tobirama teleported beside Neji with Flying Thunder God, Neji somehow noticed where they would appear and so moved out of their way accordingly. Their other Jutsus were simply too slow for him to even mention.
That seemed fine to Kurama, and in fact she was confident in doing the same. The thing that wasn't fine to her was how Neji reacted against Hashirama.
When the 1st Hokage attacked Neji with large, thick wooden vines, he simply slapped those away as if they were nothing. That part made Kurama wince, thanks to the fact that she had once experienced the lethality of those vines first-hand a few decades ago. The pain seemingly lingered on her neck even now.
So seeing Neji deal with those vines was shocking. Though in Hashirama's defence, Kurama noticed just how much he was holding back in this battle.
Hashirama Senju– as much as Kurama hated the man she would still have to admit– was a beast to behold. He was such a beast that he was resisting the control of the initiator of this Reanimation Jutsu. To the extent that he held back from destroying the entire terrain in the first minute.
As for the 2nd Tsuchikage; it seemed only he was somewhat an annoyance for Neji.
So, Kurama knew Neji would decide to take that guy out first. That was exactly what happened next.
Neji moved through the air like a bolt of electricity, moving so fast that even Minato's eyes– and therefore, accordingly Kurama's eyes– could barely follow.
Neji stopped above empty air. In a moment's notice, a bright yellow ball of ‹Explosion Style: Rasengan› appeared in his hand and he pushed it down in the empty air.
Empty air that immediately shivered just as the 2nd Tsuchikage's body became visible, a hole present in his chest.
Mū seemed very shocked, never expecting that Neji would know his location.
Before he could react, Neji moved once again. Neji touched his head and clutched his skull hard, lighting him up on Blackflames.
The three Hokages watched as the undead, who wasn't supposed to feel pain, screeched in suffering as he perished away.
Neji turned around to meet their gaze.
A moment later, his body changed subtly. Beast-like features materialised around his body, a majestic tail appearing behind him, as silver scales covered the bottom of his jawline. His nails became claws and two white wings sprouted out of his back.
"Let's finish this fast," said Neji in a voice deeper than before.
The exhilarating scent of dominance that she first smelled a month ago entered Kurama's nostrils once more as her entire body shook.
This scent, the one Neji released when in this beast form, drove her crazy.
Kurama hated Neji, his people had not only tried but also succeeded in killing her. If not for the fact that she was separated in two by the 4th Hokage, she would really have died.
In fact, she was dead until Minato was reanimated. For some reason, luckily, she was reanimated along with Minato and then regained the lingering memories from her Yin half that had disappeared from this world a month ago.
So, naturally, she hated Neji.
Yet… yet, Kurama couldn't help but feel attracted to this strange creature, to this strange scent he was discharging. Just what was he? She wanted to know.
– What the- Kurama?! Stop it!
Suddenly, Minato's voice erupted in Kurama's head.
– Why are you rubbing off your sexual emotions on me, mid-battle? What is turning you on in this situation, anyway? Let me focus!
…Somewhat embarrassed, Kurama groaned aloud.
– By the way, I am freeing you.
"...What?!"
* * *
Neji stood in the air and looked down on the 1st, 2nd and 4th Hokage who were on hyper-alert mode.
Admittedly, he was dragging this battle. Because the Gedo Statue wasn't done assimilating the Nine Tails' chakra from the Gold and Silver brothers yet. If not, he could have defeated these Kages minutes ago by using all his power boosters at once.
"Young Hyuga!" Suddenly, the 2nd Hokage yelled aloud. "Stop dragging this battle. You have to stop Madara. Finish us right away."
From beside him, both Hashirama Senju and Minato nodded. 'So they could tell, huh? Unsurprising.'
"Wait, can I let Kurama out first?" Minato asked right before Neji was about to move. "When you kill us, we will return. But I don't think Kurama deserves this. Ah, wait, you may not want her out because she would want to kill you. Forgot about that."
"...It's fine. As long as she behaves. Tell her to not bother me by attacking me on this battlefield. I will compensate her for her suffering after the end of this war." Neji said quickly. "I myself feel bad for allowing the death of a poor animal because of the dumb decision of my girls."
There was a spike in Kurama's chakra when the word 'Animal' was said, but Neji ignored it. He crossed his arms and waited for Minato to release the beast.
The first Hokage moved towards Minato to assist him, as both of them stiffly started to undo the seal in Minato's stomach. Stiffly because they were still being controlled by Kabuto who was trying to stop them, to no avail.
A minute later, the yellow cloak around Minato buzzed out of existence as a wave of orange fur started to creep out of Minato's stomach like a tsunami. Kurama roared aloud as she came out of Minato, frowning down at him.
"I told you I don't need to be left behind! I would rather die and get sent to heaven than stay here!" Kurama grumbled at Minato. "Idiotic human!"
"Ignore her."
Minato waved Kurama off, softly putting a hand in Kurama's paw as she suddenly blinked out of the spot, getting teleported away from this battlefield before she inevitably attacked Neji. Minato had endless chakra in this state, and only that's why he could teleport Kurama so easily.
"Let's finish this, Neji Hyuga."
Saying so, Minato moved towards Neji in a yellow flash, followed by a Tobirama who used the same technique, and a much slower Hashirama as well.
Neji decided to, indeed, finish this. Because in one corner, Obito had single-handedly knocked down the four Kages of this era and Madara as well was almost done with the Gedo Statue.
Neji entered his ‹Tenseigan Chakra Mode›.
His shining silver tail left after images as it whipped through the air, abruptly stopping to catch the throat of Tobirama, who had teleported right onto the tail's clutch.
Neji's right hand blitzed through the air at a great speed, involuntarily shooting an arc of wind upwards that cut the dark sky in two for a brief moment. In that brief moment, his hand had grabbed Minato by the throat, who had teleported right into the grip.
The two Hokages tried to struggle, but Neji didn't let them.
– Boom! Boom! Boom!
He released ear-splitting surges of shockwaves from his hand and tail that made cracks appear in both of the Kages' already cracked bodies.
"Agh-"
The Kages groaned when Neji didn't allow them any break and rather slammed their bodies against each other, making parts of their bodies break apart like a vase made of mud.
Neji released his grip on them and they started to fall to the ground, and they were too shaken to teleport away.
Neji agreed to finish them before they could fall to the ground with a beam of Particle Style.
With sharp concentration, he targeted the beam of destruction downwards, right where Hashirama was running towards him, and then fired it in the shape of a Kamehameha.
The beam passed through the 2nd and 4th Hokage and then touched the 1st Hokage, who didn't make any effort to dodge, allowing the beam to devour him just like the other two Hokages.
Hashirama's body shone with bright light as Particle Style erased him from the land of the living. The three Hokages suddenly ceased to exist in this world and rather ended up in their peaceful afterlife.
"Haah…"
Neji released a soft breath and put his hands down. The battle with the Reanimated Shinobis had ended.
So he turned his head in the direction of the Gedo Statue which was finally transforming and growing to its true form.
To the grotesque, terrifying form of the Ten-Tails.
"It's finally here."
The time was just around the corner for Neji to find his missing bunny.
Slowly, Neji flew towards Madara Uchiha.
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