Chapter 67
TSUNADE SENJU
Tsunade's chakra felt the massive drain as the screams and wails from various corners of the village reached her ears. With their combined effort, they were able to stop the massive boulder from crushing Konoha. Yet their efforts had not been absolutely effective.
Many of the pieces from the huge boulder had landed on various parts of the village, crushing buildings and people alike beneath it.
"Huff. Huff," Tsunade felt the exhaustion catch up with her and began to huff just as Jiraiya landed beside her, his eyes lacking even a speck of their usual cheer as he stared straight up at the sky. At the shinobi levitated above their village, looking down on them like a God.
"It's Pain. It seems he has come himself to attack Konoha," spoke up Itachi Uchiha as he landed on the roof of the Hokage building, his massive Susanoo evaporating as he looked up just like his brother staring at the floating figure.
"It can not be! It's him," she heard her teammate mutter as he continued staring at the floating figure he finally confirmed.
"It's Yahiko! I am sure of it!" he spoke up, and Tsunade frowned. The ANBU commander landed beside them along with a squad of her special ANBU.
"Tsuande-sama, we are sensing multiple breaches in the village's barriers. There seem to be multiple attackers! What are your orders!" the man asked as her guard squad remained taut and ready for her orders.
Tsunade closed her eyes as she let her enhanced senses spread throughout the village, the weils and the pains of her people getting amplified as she spread her senses throughout the various forms of Katsuyu.
"They must be the other paths of the pain! I want you to disperse the Squads and hunt them down. Rudimentary reports of them were dispersed. I want them contained quickly!" she gave her initial orders before she turned to face the now descending form of Akatsuki's leader as she gave her final orders.
"Leave this one to us! All further operational orders go through Hatake. She saw both Jiraiya and ANBU commander turn towards her as they understood the implication behind these words.
"Understood!" but before he could move out, she remembered one more thing.
"I want you to remain here as well. More so, initiate operation 'Lockdown'"
The ANBU commander stopped, and the squads behind him nodded and dispersed throughout the village as Pain finally stopped right above them.
"Impressive! I must say you, Konoha shinobi seem to always surprise me," he began to speak up. But before she could say anything, Jiraiya stepped forward, looking straight at Akatsuki's leader.
"Yahiko! Is that you, Yahiko? What happened to you?" he shouted, yet she sensed no change in Pain's expression as his focus shifted to her teammate.
"It seems to me that you have confused me with someone else. I am not this Yahiko you speak of. I am Pain, Pain of the Akatsuki. I am the amalgamation and retribution to all of this world's suffering."
Jiraiya shook his head as he continued to press his suspected former student.
"I don't know why refuse to acknowledge that name, but I can recognize that face…."
"ENOUGH!" Pain suddenly shouted, as he began to ascend once more.
"I am quite done with this farce! You might have been able to defend yourself from the initial attack, but you shall not survive the next one!" Tsunade's senses screamed at her as she felt the huge culmination of chakra.
"He is gearing up for his attack!" Sasuke spoke up from the side and was about to jump up before Itachi stopped him, holding his arm.
"It will be useless. Our attacks will simply be deflected! Sasuke! You must leave this to us!" and she saw Sasuke's eyes widen in rage at that.
"What the hell are you talking about? We have to try something! And I am not leaving you! NOT AGAIN, NOT LIKE THIS!" but then, before Sasuke could react, Itachi simply turned to give his brother a small smile.
"I am sorry, Sasuke!" and then, before Sasuke could react, a haze appeared in the young Uchiha's eyes as he fell down.
"Shizune, would you please carry my brother to the shelters and keep an eye on him!" Itachi asked her apprentice as he turned to face Pain as well. Tsunade gave Shizune a look and spoke up.
"Take him and leave! You are to overlook all the med-nins and the evacuation efforts and assist Hatake in the ongoing operations!"
Shizune seemed a little conflicted, but she nodded and then began to carry the Young Uchiha away, not before speaking up.
"Please be safe. Please." Tsunade gave her student a nod as she turned to face Pain once more.
"The Five Great nations have ravaged these lands with their wars. They have spread death and misery in their wake while having the audacity of preaching about peace," and there was anger and anguish in that voice as Pain continued to ascend.
Tsuande's senses screamed at her as Pain continued to gather chakra.
"FARCE! I CALL IT! HYPOCRACY! NOW TIME HAS COME FOR YOU TO FEEL THE DEVASTATION YOU DOLED ONTO OTHERS!"
And Tsuande finally gave the signal, "Get to your positions. NOW! FOLLOW THE PLAN!"
And then the other three, Itachi, Jiraiya, and the ANBU commander, vanished, appearing at the four corners of the building moments later.
"TIME FOR JUDGEMENT HAS COME! YOU SHALL FACE THE SAME PAIN YOU CAUSED TO THE PEOPLE OF THIS CONTINENT!"
And then she felt Pain finally let go of his chakra. The amount of it enough to devastate the whole village.
"NOW!" Tsunade ordered as she began to cycle through the series of handseals just like the rest of them, and then all four of them consecutively shouted the technique.
"NINPO: Shisekiyōjin!" ( Four Violet Yang Formation)
And before Pain could unleash his attack, four red walls went up around him. A barrier that he would choose to ignore as he continued his attack.
"ALMIGHTYY PUSH!"
SCRICH! CRICH!
"AGHHHHHHHHH!"
BOOOOOOOOOM!
0000
SHIKAKU NARA
Shikaku's mind was racing as they made their way through the wilderness, rushing towards Kirigakure. His biggest worry was the situation back at Konoha, yet he had no way of knowing or doing anything in that regard.
"Another Sage, I must say I was not expecting that," commented the Fifth Mizukage as she looked back at him. Shikaku had been similarly surprised, yet given who the kid's sensei was, the news wasn't as shocking to him.
Shikaku simply shrugged, making Terumi Mei shake her head.
"Will he be fine? It is just him and Haku back there. Shouldn't we have stayed to help?" Zabuza Momochi spoke up, and Shikaku just shook his head.
"It would have been counterproductive. With the Third Raikage's speed, Shinso would have had to cover for us constantly. This way, he can solely focus on him. Plus, I don't think the fight will last for much longer. With the Sage mode, it will not take him much time to take care of the Edo Tensei projection," Shikaku added as the Mizukage simply narrowed her eyes.
"Well, let us hope that he lives up to your expectations!" Terumi Mei commented, raising her pace as they finally spotted the smoke emanating from Kirigakure.
"Look at the sky! There is something in the sky," Ao commented, and Shikau narrowed his eye as he spotted a shadowy birdy figure flying over Kiri. From the files they had obtained from Itachi, he had a very good idea of whom their opponent was.
"This must be Iwa's mad bomber, Deidara. He uses special clay to make explosive figurines. He can manipulate their size and functionality as well," he spoke up, making the Kiri shinobi turn to look at him with surprise.
"Are you sure about this…" but before Ao could complete his sentence, a blur past them and slashed straight at the Mizukage.
"LOOK OUT!" he shouted, but he might have been too late.
SCHING.
But it seems Gai had been able to react in time! And Shikaku's feet screeched on the ground as he forced his body to stop to identify the latest attacker. His eyes widened as he spotted the bandaged sword and the bluish skin.
"HeeHee! You truly are like a beast if you could stop me like this!" came the compliment in a voice he quite easily recognized.
The bluish skin, armed with the bandaged great sword Samehada. It was the tailless bijuu, Kisame Hoshigaki.
"It's Kisame. You traitor! You must have some nerve coming back here!" spoke up Ao as Gai and Kisame separated, with Gai landing right beside him.
They were only a little distance away from the village. Yet the path wasn't easy, for Kisame stood there blocking it.
"Ohh Ao! You are still alive. This is turning into some kind of a fated reunion. It seems!" the Akatsuki member said with a huge smile.
"Step out of the way, Kisame Hoshigaki! There are five of us and only one of you. You are clearly outnumbered!" Terumi Mei spoke up.
Shikaku began to gather his chakra as well. If Kisame were smart, he would move aside. For while, he may be touted as one of the strongest shinobi of this age, fighting five S to elite A-ranked shinobi was impossible.
"HeeHeee, indeed, it is a bit precarious facing five shinobi like this!" Kisame began to speak up, but Shikaku could feel something was off as the Akatsuki member simply stuck his sword into the ground.
"But you see! You will not be facing me because I have different matters to take care of! You will be facing this!" he finished with a smile as he pointed his thumb backward, and then Shikaku finally felt his senses scream as the water behind Kisame began to stir.
Shikaku felt a huge volume of chakra begin to stir, a volume much similar to what they had faced just a little while earlier.
"Impossible! This has to be impossible!" Ao muttered as he began to mutter, but before Shikaku could ask for an explanation, his attention was captured by the massive roar coming from the water.
"ROARRR!"
The water began to whirl up a storm making Shikaku tense up, his chakra urging him to leave the area. And suddenly, he spotted the source of the disturbance as a swirly mass began to come out of the lake. A mass shaped much like a slug.
"SCREW ME!" commented Zabuza Momochi as their whole group was once more covered by a massive shadow as their opponent finally showed its full form. Its six tails thrashed around, destroying the wilderness and causing havoc. Its stupendous bellow makes the very ground shake.
It was the form of the Rokubi, the six-tails.
"Well, then, I shall leave this to you! My advice is that you don't let it near your village. See you later! Hahahaha!" the Akatsuki member mocked them as he jumped away. Ao was about to follow him but was stopped by the Mizukage.
"STOP! LET HIM GO!" she spoke up with authority, making the aged shinobi stop right in his tracks. She then began to step up towards the Rokubii.
"Let him go! Right now! We have neither the stamina nor the personnel to subdue him. We need to put the village as our first priority! Ao, go back to the village and take control of the situation! I want you to bring down the Mad bomber," she then turned to face him and spoke up.
"I am afraid I must ask for your assistance in this," and Shikaku nodded as he looked toward Gai.
"Gai, you shall join him. Assist him in bringing down Deidara!" and Gai nodded, and Shikaku turned to face the towering form of Rokubi once more.
"Facing two bijuu in a day! What a drag!" Shikaku muttered as he saw the taled beast begin to gather up chakra in its maw.
"It's a tailed beast bomb! We need to disrupt it before it can shoot it. Otherwise, this will devastate the village!" Shikaku added as he began to cycle through a series of hand seals once more.
"NINPO: SHADOW ART: HELL'S GATES!" suddenly, a huge shadow covered the water surrounding the six tails as tendrils shot up, trying to immobilize it. Terumi Mei also stepped forward as she cycled through her own jutsu.
"Beware of its acid attacks! Don't let them touch you. It's potent enough to melt bones!" she shouted as she shot up with a jump.
"NINPO: LAVA PRISON!" and Shikaku saw the rokubi scream as it was bombarded by a stream of sizzling lava.
"AGHHHH! ROARRRR!" The six tails thrashed around, trying to free itself from the shadowy binds as Zabuza and Kuroda stepped forward, molding their own chakra.
"Well, let's see you handle it!" Zabuza Momochi spoke up as both of them finally let go.
"SUITON: Suisō!" (Water Burial!)
And Water began to crush the encompassing the form of the rokubi, tying it up as it tried to imprison it somewhat. And he saw it struggle as the lava began to harden as it came in contact with the water.
"Don't let go! Keep it immobile!" screamed the Mizukage as she saw both Zabuza and Kuroda struggling before she began to cycle through another set of handseals.
"We cannot fail! The whole village depends on us!"
0000
All right! Kisame is going somewhere else! And Shikaku is having perhaps the worst day of his life!
We shall see how Tsuande's gamble on stopping Pain paid up. And did she even succeed?
As always, you can read ahead and support me on P@ tre 0n. Right now, you can also find my new story there and get a glimpse of it before it becomes public. Its a Hatake SI
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Thanks for reading!