"M-monsters," a dark-skinned man wheezed, his final act an admonishment of the figures who stood before him. Neither heard his soft condemnation and he succumbed to his injuries, his fellow ninja charging over his body as they clung to hope they could dispel the transformed clones. But it was difficult to continue to believe these were mere clones of Uzumaki Naruto. Not when the Senju Tobirama clone summoned tidal waves of water from the air. Voluminous enough to affect the Raton Users, none able to land their [Laser Circus Jutsu].
Belief was further hampered with the Hiruzen Sarutobi shifting the ground in mud deep enough to undo the foundations of the surrounding buildings causing massive structural damage. When the man started merging elemental attacks, only the most ardent belief that both these men were dead kept them giving into the visual evidence in front of them. But the assault, both physically and mentally, didn't end with that. The Nidaime had taken to using his Edo Tensei and now the nin were being blown up by their former comrades.
As they fell, more and more charged forward. Desperate to land a single blow, desperate to protect their village. Desperate to survive and render support elsewhere. No one would say it but their eyes told the story of their hearts. Be it being torn apart by a water dragon or burned by ignited earth bullets the fear and the doubt were becoming palpable. The little voices in their heads got louder with each casualty. This was feeling like Kumo's last stand.
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If the first group was stifled by disbelief at seeing two legends before them and the second group made desperate by two of the longest-reigning Hokage, then group three was stopped due to conditioning. Before them was the man they had been taught to never face in combat. To flee on sight as no amount of planning, no numerical advantage, nothing could stop this man from claiming your soul. To ninja old enough to remember the Third Shinobi War, Minato Namikaze was death incarnate. Not a myth like the Shodai, not someone they could brag about having slain like the Nidaime nor a person they watched wither away like the Sandaime.
Minato died defeating the Kyuubi. They'd seen the Hichibi's rampages and shuttered to think what a more powerful version could do; so to them, Minato's death was just short of an act of God AND the man forced a stalemate. Fear didn't begin to describe how they felt as legs grew wobbly and brows moist. Not even telling themselves these were just clones helped, not when they saw Minato Namikaze sitting before them utterly relaxed with a tri-pronged kunai twirling in his hand.
Training said to run but this was their village, where could they run? They had to fight. They had to fight as there was nowhere to go. Minato Namikaze was not known for an excess of mercy. Legend had it he spared Ay-sama and Bee-sama on a whim and nothing more. They were gripped by true terror.
"Ay, your ninja seem agitated, you should say something," Minato said and for many, it was the first time they'd heard his voice.
"These traitors? To hell with them," Ay grumbled, forcing their attention away from the Yellow Flash. The words, the tone, his body language… it was all so Ay-sama. If they were terrified of Minato, they were ashamed to be in front of Ay, most forgoing any belief these were mere clones.
"I'd normally think that cold but they were going to attempt to kill my son, grandson, and daughter-in-law. On your orders, I might add."
"I won't apologize, Minato."
"What are the apologies of deadmen anyway?" Minato asked.
Ay stood up and grunted, "You a philosopher now, Namikaze?"
"I am a sage," he said cheekily.
"Bastard," Ay responded before his features turned grim. "I learned a new trick while on the other side, I hope you traitorous cowards like it," he shouted as crimson lightning enveloped his body. Even with his enhanced speed, Minato managed to reach a ninja first, sinking a beach ball sized Rasengan in the shinobi's gut.
Standing over the man he just killed, seemingly indifferent to the violent execution Minato spoke to the crowd. "Don't blink, ninja-sans. This will be over in a flash," he warned and the true carnage began.
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Naruto flicked the blood off his katana as he walked toward the exit of the R&D division. That he had to cut down so many researchers, put an end to so much accumulated knowledge wasn't something he'd ever be proud of but his mission parameters were clear; if Darui engaged in diplomatic talks he'd leave without incident. If he were attacked, he would cripple the infrastructure of Kumo and leave them in no position to endure a long term as a shinobi village.
When the sad man tried to stab him he was willing to overlook it as a lone actor but when the others joined in his choice was made. The first part of his attack was already set, his clones were doing untold damage to the structures no doubt. But this was left to him. And as he pulled moisture from the air, and no doubt the abundant sanguine life essence that pooled on the floor he performed a chain of hand signs; Dragon→Snake→Monkey→Rat→Dragon. The temperature didn't drop so much as it flipped, water particles compacted into diamond-hard ice and even he had to flash away after the [Ice Style: Arctic Tomb] was completed. The chakra cannon they'd been developing along with other advanced technology and weaponry would be lost to time.
Now outside the building, Naruto activated his cloaking jutsu, a mixture of nin and genjutsu. Unseen and unheard, he made his way out of the village. As he sped for the extraction point he came upon the clones transformed into his dad and Ay. It'd been a massacre and those that remained seemed broken. It was cruel but there were no kind wars. He didn't see any of the other clone pairs but did see the [Wood Style: Advent of the World of Flowering Trees] and knew all primary objectives had been reached.
In a blink, he was at the pre-arranged location, Kirabi and his team awaiting his arrival. They looked conflicted but as he dropped his jutsu he'd trust in their attachment to his Kumo counterpart. It hadn't been hard for Kirabi to defect. The man was an oddball but he loved Ay and couldn't serve a village that would kill him. Yugito took more time but ultimately came to a similar conclusion. True, they were treated about as well as any Jinchuriki had ever been but being labeled guardians kept them apart from most of the village. They were still seen as weapons just weapons the villagers liked. Ay gave them that human connection and whatever the man's faults (and they were numerous) he'd at least been more sincere in his relationship with Kirabi than the Hiruzen had been with him.
Kurama informed Naruto of the incoming, as he'd been hit with a wave of negative emotions so Naruto wasn't surprised when hundreds of Kumo ninja arrived with Shi and Yugito. He speculated she'd been unable to lose them so she'd need an opening. Even without Kurama's ability, Naruto would swear he could feel their hatred of him. He had to question their relationship with violence. Did they think they'd lose no one if the villages went to war? Or would it be acceptable so long as they won?
"You have one chance to surrender," Shi yelled though none of the ninja backing him seemed inclined to it. Naruto formed a ram sign, Kirabi and his team were cocooned in individual metal spheres and sent skyward. The Uzumaki then put his hand on the hilt of his sword. Shi, with a wave of his hand, ordered his people forward. Naruto met their charge, slowly at first but gaining speed with every step.
His blade tasted blood before the victim could fully process he was there. A smooth, clean-cut that rendered the shinobi a head shorter. They tried to surround him, the same tactics risen to the level of religious doctrine for the unyielding faith they placed into them. His hair sprung to life. What lives his sword didn't take, his red spikes claimed for themselves. He started appearing in random places, the swift release's speed superior to the lightning armor and with no visual nor auditory warnings. He was breaking their formations and their wills.
He had to keep himself from smiling as the village proud of its kenjutsu fell to the superior technique, speed, and power of a single ninja. He wondered if in their final moments if they realized their folly. If they understood that while ninjutsu would be his legacy it was not where his talent lied. He struggled with it early on, struggled to create a process that would allow him to invent more efficiently. That struggle meant when he succeeded it felt good. But not until he gripped a sword and gave it a clumsy swing had anything ever felt so right. If he were a prodigy of ninjutsu then he was a genius of the sword and if they knew the secret of this they'd take it to the Pure Land.
He continued apace, dancing through their attacks. He started applying his [Illusion Art: Prison of False Enlightenment] on some forcing them to mistake their allies for himself. It sowed discord and reduced morale even more. They had no solution for him and the last of Kumo's available attack force was trapped, faced with something they didn't understand.
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Yugito waited patiently for her moment. Maybe it was cowardly but she wanted to depart without having to take the lives of any of her former comrades. She didn't hold lethal intent but she couldn't serve alongside them, not anymore. It was scary and exciting, the potential new chapter of her life but it came with a heavy toll. It was no small feat to see people she knew killed so effortlessly; the Uzumaki hadn't even stained his all-white clothes. He was as Matatabi warned, something wholly different than any living shinobi. So she watched and waited until she felt the ground shift.
She'd compare it to an earthquake for lack of any other examples but soon black smoke raced toward the sky and the sound of angry waves crashing against hapless rocks filled their ears. The heat came next. Searing even when they were so far from the source, which revealed itself. Lava. In the village, they could all see it. The reddish-orange, blistering hot material. All fighting stopped. Naruto chuckled, again becoming the center of attention. But none attacked.
Somehow he'd created a volcano within the village. Not even the most adept Yoton users could do that. She shook her head, with every act he proved Ay-sama both correct and foolish. No village could accept his existence and yet no village could do anything about it. But it was when he spoke that a new horror was introduced.
"Pollen is combustible," he said. "Those trees have been producing enough to rival a summer in Konoha and you have two uncontrolled sources of fire raging in your village. If my oil fire doesn't get to it, the lava will. You wanted war and you got one. I hope it was everything you wished." Yugito felt her wrist being grabbed, the sensation of being pulled registering before the grunt of Shi as he was flung back by Naruto's kick. She, too, found herself in a pod and sky-bound, not seeing daylight again until they landed.