Naruto: Tales of Ashihara
Kakumei – Arc 4: Might Makes Right
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Chapter 96 – The Battle of Hikari I
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In her underground lab facility, Minoka is calmly reading and practicing what she learns from the scroll that contains Suto's research notes when she's surprised by the ground shaking above her head. From the rhythmic rumbling she feels, she assumes that armies are on the move. And from the longitudinal shaking coming from the ocean's direction, she guesses that something way bigger must be headed toward the village from that direction.
"Hey! Mister Oshio! What's goin' on?" she asks, unsettled by this sudden movement, unaware of the ongoing invasion.
"Minoka, stay where you are for now." Oshio replies through the Mitsudomoe tattoo she has on her belly. "We are under attack. They may be here to retrieve Izuna. But we will not let them reach you."
Minoka nods slowly, listening to her ruler's order, before shaking her head negatively instead. She starts to panic internally, worried for her friends on the surface, but tries to remain calm on the outside.
She recalls what she was just told to do by her leader and thinks. She can just stay here and keep studying her notes. She just has to make sure Izuna stays there. Just to be sure, she goes to the lab room where Izuna is kept, to see if he noticed anything.
To her unfortunate surprise, in the room, she only finds a slightly damaged wall with broken chains strapped to it. On the ground, bloody black rods that were pulled out from the captive's palms. Izuna escaped. But how could he? Even taking advantage of the wall weakening from the shaking shouldn't have been enough to gather the strength needed for this task. He was way too weakened by his state to do anything like that.
"Shit! What the hell? No way I'm staying here!" she complains out loud to herself.
She rushes back to her office where are all the notes of Suto, from which she only had time to learn the Inert Body Jutsu for now. She closes and collects all the scrolls and puts the first, the one she was currently reading, in a waterproof pocket. After gathering the guts to do so, she swallows it down, and clenches her teeth in disgust.
She wanted to swallow them all, to make sure she couldn't lose them in any way, but just one was hard enough. Instead, she puts all the remaining scrolls in a bag and leaves her office. In anguish she looks around, trying to see, hear, or feel the escapee around. He's certainly still in the lab, and could come out of anywhere to make her pay for what she did to him like Oshio warned her could happen.
Added to this, she's deranged by a feeling of hate and blood lust that she gets from the current atmosphere. She firmly holds the bag and hurries to run through the halls, toward the exit, with cold sweat running along her back, in fear of getting caught by the anger of the one she utilized for the last two weeks.
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In front of the gates of Hikari, Kawaki is running alone toward the armies of the Shinobi Union. He doesn't think about his squad behind him, his friends from Kakumei spread around the village, or the tsunami that is about to strike the capital. He just focuses on what's in front of him.
He sees the division of Suna, Kumo and Konoha get in line in this order and run to him. The ninjas of the first line in the ranks of Suna all pull out scrolls from which they unseal puppets. A new first first line, elevated above the rest of the army and made only of marionettes, appears. Since each puppet master has at least two weapons, this tool army is thrice the size of the first line.
Kawaki, with his Shojo seal and Byakugan already active, gathers energy in his left eye to take care of the puppet army.
Kosengan
He shoots an intense and wide beam of raw burning chakra from his white pupil and absolutely obliterates all the humanoids that float above the ninjas of Suna. When the red flash turns off, not a single puppet remains. Kankuro looks up to see the chakra strings attached to the fingers of his soldiers fall and disappear, having lost their holds. He clenches his teeth and fists, frustrated by how easily a man this young could stop his offensive before it even started, but keeps running and stays ready to engage in combat.
Before Kawaki reaches the troop, he sees Shinki, son of the Kazekage, fly with iron sand wings above the army and leap forward to him.
Jiton – Kurogane Hando (Black Iron Hand)
Shinki's iron cloak and wings turn into a colossal glove, taking the form of a giant hand that he plunges down on Kawaki to crush him. The chief general of Kakumei counters quickly with an equivalent move.
Shojo – Saibo Kaizo (Cellular Modification)
With the power of his Shojo seal, Kawaki shapes his left hand into a gigantic clawed limb that equals the size of Shinki's gauntlet and holds it back, palm to palm. The two grown limbs start an arm wrestle that is very quickly won by Kawaki's stronger muscles and superior power. He overthrows Shinki's iron hand and slams it into the ground, down on Suna's army.
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From Konoha's ranks, Inoue emerges. In a hurry to be the first to find Izuna, she outran her fellow Konoha-nins and gets through the ranks of Kumo who mix with those of Suna, slowed down by Kawaki's last strike. In the middle of the action, she finds Shinki whom she hurries to help up. Mira Fuhatsu and Shakiro Araya, Shinki's teammates, arrive a bit later to see Shinki already back on his feet.
Inoue looks at Mira, who she knows will be able to hear her question even in the ambient noise thanks to her super hearing. She asks "Please, can you get me a passage through to the village?". Mira raises her eyebrows and smiles, having recognized the teammate of Boruto and Izuna, and intrigued by this demand.
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Behind Kawaki, Fuyuko is running in front of the 23 members of Kawaki's squad. He stops his run suddenly when he senses various people approaching the village by the sea at tremendous speed. What he thought was just a wave that Oshio would easily absorb seems to be something else. A disguise. The army of Hikari runs past him while he stays there, hesitating to walk back. In the crowd of chakra filling the wave, he senses a particular one. The condensed chakra of many tengu in one body.
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The ranks of Kumo and Suna mix up just as they collide with the army of Kakumei. Ninjas of the Shinobi Union simply ran past the enemy chief general, frightened by his first demonstration, and advised not to engage in combat with him by their leaders. Kawaki stands in the middle of the battleground, unsettled that no one raises a hand on him.
However, there are people whose emotions and grudges surpass their survival instinct. Maroi Miyoin and Narui of Kumo, two former teammates of Saeko, the young girl who had to be killed by Kawaki in the Labyrinth of the Chunin exam, notice the murderer of their friend through the crowd.
At his sight, Maroi stops straight. She stares at him who, after a second, notices her as well and stares back. Unable to hold her anger, she takes a step forward, but Narui is more combative than her and immediately rushes through the battlefield, accompanied by dozens of clones. Maroi still attacks first.
Fuzzy Genjutsu
Kawaki sees her perform a very long series of hand signs. He stares at her hands moving to no end, failing to understand what jutsu she's attempting to use. Somehow, he guesses that this girl was a friend of the one he killed during the exam, and is reminded of what he did.
Deep in his thoughts brought back by the sight of these uniforms and faces, he stands still and doesn't interrupt Narui who goes in front of the enemy and tries to attack him from all directions with her clones. He unintentionally lets her land a first hit right in his face, which wakes him up. He focuses and now starts to dodge her next attacks.
"I recognize you. You're from the team of the girl who was murdered in the maze." he tells Narui while analyzing the clones with his Byakugan.
"You killed her! Don't deny it!" many of the clones answer together.
"And I'm really sorry for this. This memory tormented me for a long time. But if I have to kill you now, I won't feel the same remorse." he warns her. "Your clones are well coordinated… As if they share a hive mind. However, this cloning jutsu makes it easier to differentiate them from the real you."
Kawaki raises his right hand and grabs the original by the head with such violence that Narui's startle causes her to dismiss her clones. Right as he prepares to eliminate her, he suddenly feels dizzy and can't manage to hold on his feet anymore. He also can't see clearly as everything seems blurred around him. Narui takes advantage of this weakness to get away after kicking him in the torso to free herself from his hold.
Kawaki understands that this feeling comes from Maroi' Genjutsu. It must have been cast by just the sight of the hand signs. To free himself, he simply channels natural energy through his Shojo seal and breaks free from the illusion. When he wakes up, he looks around to find Narui and Maroi again. When he does, he sees them with a 3rd team member by their side. A boy with messy green hair, green eyes and a band strapped over his nose.
Kaminari, the 3rd member of the squad, stares back at Kawaki and gulps down, worried by the enemy's oddly shocked face. For a moment, he is unsure of what causes Kawaki's shock, but then sees a flashing white light pass by him and rush toward the chief general.
Kawaki is distracted once again and lets this running light push him away, deeper in the crowd. He is blown away and stands up. He raises his head and sees Yukai, the one who was hidden in the light that just struck him.
"… and Yukai again." he quietly says.
"He's not the target. We have a task that we should fulfill first." Yukai tells Maroi, Narui and Kaminari, before addressing Kawaki. "If you're still there at the end of this mission, I'll come back for you."
Right after these words, Yukai goes running toward the gate again with his colleagues of Kumo who accept and follow his advice. Kawaki simply lets them go, unsettled by this short encounter but also distracted by another face he notices in the crowd. Running toward him in the distance, he sees someone that he mistakes for the 7th Hokage. It is Boruto Hyuga, aiming for him as well. Kawaki takes a deep breath in, and prepares himself for this battle.
"Finally!" Boruto exclaims. "I'll beat you this time! For my sensei! For my father! For my village!"
Kawaki crosses his arms and stops Boruto's first strike through which he can already feel the Knoha-nin's growth in power since their last meeting. Behind Boruto comes Konohamaru, determined to assist Naruto's son in this possibly decisive fight.
Kawaki opens his guard vigorously to push the yellow haired boy back. Boruto lands next to Konohamaru and gets in his classic Juken fight pose. Konohamaru, knowing how difficult this fight may be, directly summons the adamant staff of Enma. To respond to this, Kawaki pulls out the black rod staff gifted to him by Oshio.
"You'll beat me this time, huh?" Kawaki tells Boruto. "Yes… If I remember correctly, this is what you said when we last met as well. Show me what you got then!"
The young captain of the first division quietly grins and activates his Byakugan, ready for the evaluation of his training.
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Inside the village, Oshio, done with evacuating the civilians, lifts himself in the air toward the giant tsunami that is about to cover his territory. He raises his left hand forward and widely opens the Rinnegan in his palm.
Gakido
Having already figured out that this wave is a body controlled with the Hozuki clan's Suika, he absorbs the chakra inside to undo the jutsu. The wave gets considerably less dense and Suigetsu Hozuki is pulled out from it. As soon as revealed, the mist's swordsman tries to strike the enemy leader with his Kubikiriboccho that Oshio stops by inserting his arm in the hole at the blade's top.
"Shit! You really look a lot like Sasuke." Suigetsu comments, seeing the young man in person for the first time.
Oshio doesn't reply, and instead gets a feeling of insecurity as he still hears the water of the tsunami flowing behind him. Suddenly, Fuyuko's voice in his mind explains the problem.
"Oshio look out! This wave is a disguise! It's Kiri's army!" Fuyuko guessed, but too late.
The remaining water behind Oshio turns into an army of ninjas from Kiri, led by Takeshi Minamoto, who falls past the enemy ruler and lands softly on the ground of Hikari. Suigetsu tries to take advantage of this moment of inattention. He pulls out his second sword, the Nuibari needle, and attempts to pierce Oshio with it.
Chimatakami
To stop this second strike, the Uchiha simply opens a space rift that engulfs the swordsman and transports him to another dimension.
On the ground, Takeshi lands next to Yukiko who dries the clothes of Kaori and other colleagues with her Shakuton. He looks up to Oshio, the brother of the one he came to rescue. The Uchiha stares back with the Rinnegan in his palm. After a short unspoken gaze conflict, Takeshi looks around and wonders where Suigetsu is. Thinking there's more important to do now, he looks down through his army and gives his orders.
"First half finds the jinchuriki and contains him until Suna ninjas arrive." he says, looking at the part of the army with Mizuno and her team. "Other half goes to the gates with me." he adds while staring at his own teammates and sensei.
"Why would you go at the gate?" asks Mizuno.
"I sense a tengu user there." Takeshi answers quickly, before speaking to his tengu in his mind. "Tentoki?"
"Yeah! Time for a power up." the celestial light answers excitingly.
Under the eyes of all of Kiri's ninjas, Takeshi's body starts to glow in an intense white that lights his hair in a glowing bright white. He creates a little bunch of clones before he suddenly vanishes in a flash with them. Kaori, Yukiko, Kokoro and all the ninjas of the second half the captain addressed stare at each other in confusion before hurrying to the village's gate, as asked.
The other half, now led by Mizuno, looks around to see the sovereign of the land floating above their heads, watching down on them with the eye in his palm, but not attacking. Oshio instead leaves toward his castle where he intends to go sit on his throne and wait for those sent after him. Glad that they won't have to face him, Mizuno addresses the ninjas that stood with her, including her daughter, Teru Uchiha and Mariko Uchida.
"We got the hardest part of the mission. We have to find and contain the beast that once powered the great 7th Hokage." she says. "We won't all make it alive out of this, it is certain. But one thing is sure, no matter what awaits we have to accomplish our mission."
"This, I couldn't have said better, except for the last part." they hear a mocking excited voice say.
Teru is first to notice the enemy. It is Mikitaka who shows up, standing on the roof of a building next to the streets filled with ninjas of Kiri. They all look up to see him, unsure of his identity at first, but clued about it by the tattoo on his cheek.
"None of you will make it alive. And none of you will accomplish anything." he adds, before laughing as red chakra leaks from his body and engulfs him.
Biju Modo
A strong and violent repulsion is emitted from the jinchuriki's body who's now hidden by lifted dust. The ninjas of Kiri are pushed, crushed, and lose their grip before they can see the enemy step out of the transformed into his unique Biju form, covered in a dark mantle with 9 sharp chakra tails and red glowing eyes and mouth. Having grown to the size of a house, he already stomped down a part of the army.
Mio steps back in anguish, afraid by this vile creature that looks so careless and sadistic. Behind her, Teru is paralyzed. Also afraid, when he feels his teammate cloister herself to him, he forgets his fear. He grabs her by the hand, and confidently stares at her in the eyes, to reassure her. Next to them, Mizuno and Mariko are ready for battle.
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Meanwhile, at the village's gate, the Raikage and his student Yukai use a combined Black Lightning jutsu to destroy the main entrance of the village.
Raiton – Kuro Pansa/Black Dragon
The two animal shaped attacks strike the door together and completely destroy it, right in time for Takeshi Minamoto and a clone to pass by and exit the village to join the battlefield on the outside.
Takeshi has sent a total of 3 clones through the battlefield. Two of them are still in the village, looking for members of Kakumei, hidden facilities and, obviously, Suigetsu who Takeshi doesn't know was sent to another world. The last clone went with the original to find the other members of Kakumei, and specifically the tengu users that Tentoki can distinctly feel near the entrance.
As he runs in the middle of the battling ninjas of all villages, the original Takeshi has never felt so powerful, so free, so happy in his life. Now able to combine his already incredible speed with Koton – Shunshin, he reaches a level of rapidity that even surpasses the speed of the famous and greatly praised 4th Hokage.
"Tentoki, this is crazy!" he cheers enthusiastically as he flashes through the army and takes down every ninja of Hikari that he stumbles upon in a single move.
In the crowd, Fuyuko Yamanaka frantically looks around, disturbed by the unthinkable speed of the tengu chakra he senses. But also, he has an odd feeling coming from inside him since this chakra is around. A feeling that he can't yet explain. As if the tengu seed inside him was reacting to this presence. Confused and frustrated, he angrily spreads his shadow around and captures all the nearby foes.
Kage Denshin
By using the Yamanaka's Shindenshin combined with shadow manipulation, he spreads his mind through the bodies of all the ninjas he caught and reads through their minds to find the name of the ninja whose speed and chakra could be so intriguing. And he finds it. Takeshi Minamoto of Kiri.
"Minamoto, of course. The assholes are descendants of Sojobo." he tells himself before unleashing another combined jutsu.
Kage Nendo
He now lifts up all the objects he caught in his expanded shadow and throws them in all directions, mimicking a telekinesis power. As lost weapons, blades and simple clothes rain on the battlefield, Takeshi notices it and goes to locate the source of this event. Fuyuko, clearly sensing the tengu host coming closer from a specific direction, throws all his objects in the way. He frees the view by taking down everyone, ally and enemy, until he and Takeshi can face each other, both standing still for a moment.
"This one is a Yamabushi." Tentoki tells him.
"Well, let's get rid of him." Takeshi says, confidently before glowing again and instantly vanishing.
"Come and get me! You fucking-" Fuyuko starts to scream before suddenly being struck by a flash, too fast for his eyes.
With a single kick that pushed against his ribs at unequaled speed, he's sent flying through the forest for nearly a hundred meters, all the way back to the village. As the chakra of this opponent still flows through his body as a shock wave, he understands the feeling he had earlier.
Despite the fact that the tengu seed inside should have stopped growing since the Daitengu's death, he now has the same impression as when it was still slowly hatching. However, he can't think of this sensation anymore, as he's violently slammed against the barrier that surrounds his village and loses consciousness.
Done with this, Takeshi turns around and sees a tornado in the middle of the forest. It very quickly disappears after digging a hole in the crowd, as its purpose was only to propel a person to a different place.
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In the village, Inoue Yamanaka lands, a bit messily, in the streets on the way to the main castle. She's just been thrown to this place by Mira Fuhatsu who used her Kekkei Genkai, Taiton, to make her a passage as she asked. Using a tornado, she threw her over the battling armies and sent her straight to the village.
Now inside as she wanted, Inoue roams around and tries her best to sense a bit of the chakra of who she came to save. Unable to feel anything, she starts to worry about whether or not Izuna is still alive. She isn't aware that the latter is kept in an underground facility that prevents any detection.
On her run, she stumbles upon a familiar face. Someone she already saw before and who sees her at the same time. It's Akiko Yamanaka, who was calmly standing on a roof close to the castle and observing the battle from a distance.
"You!" they exclaim together before both throwing a jutsu in an attempt to take each other down.
Futon – Kurogiri Daitoppa
Katon – Endan
Akiko shoots a wind bullet cloaked in the deadly black mist of Akashita, and Inoue fires a flame bullet. The fire beats the wind but is stopped anyway by the black fog. In result, both jutsu just dissipate mid air and leave them two to face each other again.
"You're that girl who beat me and took me over in Konoha!" Inoue yells.
"Yeah! I recognize you." Akiko replies. "I really enjoyed that bit of time I spent in this feminine, comfy, young and hotter body of yours. I'm glad you brought yourself here just for me."
Inoue makes a slightly deranged face, and swiftly pulls a kunai out from her pocket that she throws to Akiko.
Kage Nendo
Using the same jutsu as her brother, the Yamanaka deflects the weapon but only now notices the explosive note attached to it that detonates. She crosses her arms and jumps back to avoid the blast. The explosion didn't hurt her, but left enough time for Inoue to run away and hide in the nearby streets, out of Akiko's sight.
"Oh, you wanna play Hide & Seek." Akiko says. "As you wish, blondie." she adds before jumping to another roof and starting to look for her opponent.
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At the entrance of the castle that is now left unguarded, the Raikage arrives with his first troops and enters the building, immediately making his way to the great throne room. There, Oshio Uchiha is calmly sitting, as if he expected them. Darui observes him. He notices the white band strapped around the Uchiha's eyes, hinting that he may really have taken the Sharingan of his brother. After a closer look, he finds what he came for. The Dojutsu that is now in the enemy's left palm.
"For a moment I thought you didn't have the Rinnegan anymore." he says.
"And how would it have made your situation any different?" Oshio replies, standing up from his seat.
Darui looks in his back to see who followed him to this place. On his left is his partner in arms, C. On his right, Omoi and his students Aoki and Yukai. Behind, the few ninjas who kept up, including Atsui with two of his students: Kaminari and Maroi. Narui was left behind on the battlefield while her original self retreated.
Two other ninjas, which are W, the elite swordsman with long dark purple dreadlocks and a bandanna, and F, a fancy looking kunoichi with a blonde afro that is also a former teammate of W. It makes it 10 ninjas, including the Raikage, 2 medics, 3 swordsmen, 2 long range attackers, and 2 short range fighters. Satisfied by his squad, Darui stands proudly and declares his intentions to the enemy leader.
"We, ninjas of Kumo, participate in this surprise attack for one purpose." he says. "Not only to end this conflict, but to correct your biggest mistake. Not only will we eliminate you, but we will also take this eye of yours, and use it to revive the 7th Hokage."
Oshio makes a surprised face, not really expecting such desperate respect toward a foreign ninja from Kumo's Raikage, who's been infamous through time for their blind and selfish pride. Yet, Kakumei's leader smiles. Darui's resolve shows how unbound the respect and admiration that this world vows to Naruto Uzumaki is.
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Every actor of this battle has chosen an opponent. Mio, Teru Uchiha, Mariko Uchida, Mizuno and others from Kiri are facing the deadly host of Kyubi and Rokubi, Mikitaka. Inoue Yamanaka is having a second chance at proving herself against Akiko Yamanaka. The ninjas of Kumo are face to face with Oshio Uchiha himself.
Boruto Hyuga and Konohamaru Sarutobi have engaged in battle against the one who took down Naruto Uzumaki, Kawaki. Izuna Uchiha may currently be making his own way out of his prison while quietly chasing the one who toyed with him for the last 2 weeks, Minoka. And finally, Takeshi Minamoto is making a bit of every battle his own with his newly acquired game changing speed and power.
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End of Chapter 96 – Next Chapter: The Battle of Hikari II