Finally… I have been waiting for this. I can finally kill you… I CAN FINALLY FEEL ALIVE!"
I didn't bother replying as I gathered my chakra within me silently. There's no point in conversing with Gaara when he's like this. I know what he can be in the future with the right support and I know he is capable of change.
But right now, I really cannot be bothered to give a damn. He is out for my blood and I am determined to put him down. The plot is screwed already anyway, there's no guarantee that he will turn out to be the good guy like he did in canon by the end of this exam.
I won't even blink an eye if he somehow got himself killed today. Maybe I will feel some sense of pity for him, but that's about it.
Hayate gave a look at the both of us to check if we are both ready. I don't know why he is still alive at this point, but if I have to take a guess, it is likely attributable to Kabuto's mysterious disappearance.
I still have no idea where that silver-haired snake had disappeared to.
"All ready?"
Upon our nods of confirmation, Hayate leapt backwards before chopping his palm down.
"Match start!"
A large volume of sand immediately erupted out of Gaara's gourd as I got myself out of the way. His sand is his best offense and defence. Take out the sand, and Gaara's options will be severely limited.
I whipped out a scroll from my weapon pouch and reappeared high up in the air with the help of my mirrors. I could do this without the help of a scroll, but this will allow me to save a lot of chakra.
"Release!"
An even larger volume of water poured down into the arena from the scroll and flood it within seconds. Many people were confused at the sudden drop in water level of the Naka river a few days ago. They didn't know I was the reason behind it.
The entire arena had been transformed into an artificial lake thanks to the amount of water I poured into it. Gaara has a very ugly and furious scowl on his face as he glared at me where I am levitating in the sky using a pane of ice mirror as a floating platform. I had made the weakness of his absolute defence known in a very obvious manner and he does not appreciate it.
Like I care.
I can never beat Gaara in a contest of stamina. He is a jinchuriki, a being with unlimited amount of chakra and crazy regenerative powers thanks to the beast sealed inside him even if Shukaku is supposedly the weakest one out of the nine. A normal human can never hope to beat it without taking drastic measures but I am definitely not normal, not after the training my godfather put me through.
I am going to defeat Gaara my own way. It is time to use my knowledge of other fictional worlds and turn fiction into reality.
The power of fiction is a mighty power to have if given the chance to turn real.
I put my hands together and went through several hand seals. Each of the Ice Release techniques that I will be using are of my own creation even if they were plagiarised from other fictional series that I had read about in my previous life.
I am going to go at full power right off the bat.
"Ice Release: Hakka no Togame"
Rukia's ability from the Bleach series is to turn her surroundings into ice by dropping the surrounding temperature into absolute zero and the effect is brought to the maximum when she uses her Bankai. From an observer's point of view, her general ability is to freeze. However, the real ability that she possesses is to bring her own body to a temperature below freezing so that anything that she touches will be frozen in ice. Her sword merely extends her reach. In my case, I copied the same logic and turned it into reality. It took me half a year in my mindscape to achieve this due to how delicate this technique is, but the efforts are worth it.
The entire arena turned into a freezing white and I can see many shinobis using jutsus of their own to shield their allies and the spectators from the cold I am giving out. A layer of white frost gradually formed on the surface of my body as my body temperature continue to drop.
I don't have the same weakness as Rukia when thawing myself out of this technique because unlike her, I can be the ice itself, thanks to the other jutsus that I had invented.
Using the time Gaara is spending in getting his sand out of my ice due to the drop in temperature, I quickly went through another set of hand seals.
"Ice Release: Iced Shell"
The original technique is a magic spell that Ur from Fairy Tail used to seal Deliora away, saving her pupil, Gray, in the process.
When I first created Iced Shell, I had only planned on creating it as a suicide jutsu by transforming myself into ice just in case things ever got that ugly. However, some time in during the creation process, I found another use for it that led to the invention and discovery of another application of ice power from another fictional series. The discovery of the workings of my version of Iced Shell and how it works led me to the invention of another jutsu that mimicked the abilities of another fictional power.
Initially, from what I can remember, Ur uses a mixture of her spirit and physical body to create unmeltable ice. It is what got me thinking. This world has the idea of 'spirit' and 'physical' energy as well in the form and Yin and Yang chakra. What if I combine them to create the same effects as Iced Shell? Is it possible to recreate the effects of unmeltable ice by mixing Yin and Yang chakra into my Ice Release?
After many trials and errors in my mindscape by combining different ratio of Yin, Yang, Water, and Wind nature chakra, I got my results. As it turns out, it is possible.
In my case, my Iced Shell differs from Ur's as it is a passive technique instead of an active one. My Iced Shell uses the spiritual and physical energy of the user to give extra freezing powers to the Ice Release. The subsequent ice that is produced from this jutsu is almost unmeltable because my spirit, the Yin chakra, and my physical strength, the Yang chakra, are mixed into it as well. I can also use it to transform my body into a form of ice. However, like Hakka no Togame, there is a very high chance that using this jutsu can destroy my body in the process if the reversal process is done wrongly. The reversal process of changing my body from ice back to flesh is very delicate. A single misstep will cause certain death for me.
But I had years to practice and get around that flaw of this jutsu. It was during this time that I found a way to recreate another fictional power regarding ice that solves the problem I faced when using Hakka no Togame and Iced Shell. With this jutsu, I can freely change my body from flesh to ice and vice versa without much worry.
"Ice Release: Ice Body"
I whispered out the name of the third jutsu as I felt my body changing from flesh to ice. Now, most physical attacks are unable to harm me.
Kuzan from One Piece never had a specific name for his ability to turn his body into ice and then reform it upon getting partially destroyed from a hostile attack, but that doesn't stop me from recreating his ability and then giving it a name of my own liking. Right now, my body is pure ice. Ice Body is a technique that branches off from Iced Shell, I am using a combination of Yin and Yang chakra together with my Ice Release to achieve this effect. If I have to make an educated guess, Konan from Akatsuki had probably done something similar to let her body turn into paper. I don't remember her being a part of any clan or having any form of bloodline, so what she achieved should be something that can be done by any other shinobi.
I may call it a jutsu, but in actuality, Ice Body is a method I had came up with to help me switch my body's constitution between flesh and ice rapidly. With this, Hakka no Togame's weakness is now nullified. I also now have the added ability to be invincible against most physical attacks since I can change my body to ice and reform my damaged body whenever I want, similar to how Kuzan did in One Piece.
I have the power to control ice. I can make them move however I wish. I can even make them hover and fly in the air without conscious effort. With Ice Body, my body is now turned into ice and I have full control over it. I can now control my body however I like it. I can even twist my limbs at unnatural angles like how Orochimaru can when Ice Body is active.
With Ice Body active, I can now fly.
With that, preparations are complete.
"DIE!"
A massive wave of sand rose from somewhere like an angry tsunami in an attempt to catch me. It seems that Gaara had somehow managed to get his sand out of its frozen state.
"Ice Release: Ice Storm"
I raised a hand and quickly froze Gaara's huge wave of sand into ice within seconds. I can feel everyone's surprise and awe at what I can achieve even when I am levitating high up in the air above the arena. Even the artificial lake that I had brought about is now frozen.
This time, my inspiration is from Esdeath from the Akame Ga Kill series. I took out the 'Commander-In-Chief' from the original name since I don't like the sound of it, but the idea of covering everything with ice and snow is something that a fellow ice user like me can appreciate.
I look down at Gaara from my position. I can already feel his sense of disbelief from where I am even if I cannot see his face clearly due to the distance between us.
He is going down.
Impossible.
THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!
Gaara seethed and he can feel Mother's blood boiling in the dark recesses of his mind. HOW?! Even his father is incapable of stopping his sand so easily!
And yet this boy here did it with a casual wave of his hand.
His sand's automatic defence was the only warning he got as his opponent suddenly reappeared near him with his hands in a specific stance.
"Ice Release: Hail Pounce"
A giant pillar of ice was created and Haku threw it at Gaara, who is now forced to use his sand to defend himself. Gaara remains unscathed as per usual although the force behind that attack had gotten him skidding back a fair distance.
This is it. This is the battle that he was looking forward to! A battle to make him feel alive!
Gaara clapped his hands together before slamming it down onto the ground. Haku had brought the winter along with him, it is time for him to return the favour by introducing a desert into Konoha.
Haku followed his actions immediately and Gaara can feel his panic rising.
He doesn't know what Haku did, but the sands within the earth isn't responding.
"Don't bother calling your sand." Haku said in a flat tone as he slowly stood up from the frozen artificial lake of water. "It is not that hard to find out after your stunt in the preliminaries that the sand in your gourd is what you usually use. Hanabi had told me that she saw a large amount of your chakra infused in it, making it easier for you to use and control. It is even easier to figure out that you called upon the extra sand from the ground by breaking down the minerals in it to call upon more sand to help you. Obviously, I am not letting that happen. I had just frozen everything underground at least a hundred meters deep. Your sand won't help you now."
"You… YOU!"
"Yes, me." Haku replied with breaths of white air escaping his mouth. His form is covered in a white layer of frost as he slowly walked towards Gaara.
"You are strong. You are probably the strongest adversary I had ever faced. You could possibly grow into a Kage level shinobi and I won't be surprised. You said that you wanted my blood. I had warned you that you are going to need to work for it. You obviously didn't heed my warning."
Gaara clutched his head in pain. His head is pounding and he can feel the mixture of his mother's lust for blood and the sudden emergence of a sense of fear within him that he hadn't felt in years.
"Don't come near me… I want to live… I WANT TO LIVE! I WANT TO FEEL ALIVE!"
Gaara temporarily tapped into Shukaku's powers as the area behind him managed to burst out of the frozen lake, sending large chunks of ice to rain down upon the arena. Haku remained unfazed at this change of development and stared at Gaara without flinching.
"I had heard a little of what you experienced. Your father tried to kill you, didn't he? How many times did he attempt?"
"Five." Even if he is now looking down at the ground, Gaara found himself replying to Haku's question in his dry raspy voice even if he doesn't know why. For some reason, he has a feeling that Haku can understand him.
They both have the same look of loneliness after all.
"Five times after my own Uncle tried to kill me. I killed them all in return."
"We are actually very similar. My own father tried to kill me once and I killed him in return." Haku's chilly voice got Gaara looking back up in surprise. "It is how I unlocked my powers over ice. It doesn't really bother me that much now but back then, every single time I use this cursed power I would have brief flashbacks of how he tried to kill me. I would remember how he killed my own mother. I had hated this power."
There was a brief flash of understanding and sorrow in Haku's eyes before it disappeared. The cold determined gaze returned.
"Looking at you, I see what I would have become if I didn't have the few people around me that tried their best to care for me. I guess I am luckier than you in this regard."
"Shut up. SHUT UP! QUICKSAND WATERFALL FLOW!"
"Didn't I just tell you that this is a futile attempt on your part? Here, let me show you."
Haku stood at his position as he watched the sand approached him with an uncaring look.
And then let the sand wash over him.
"HAHAHA!" Gaara laughed manically at the sight of his foe getting taken out so easily. "So much for the big talk! Now, DIE!"
Gaara's next attack didn't have any effect as his sand suddenly turned into a frosty white mass of ice. The ice slowly cracked and crumbled, revealing an undamaged Haku as he strolled out of his previous confinement.
"Ice Release: Ice Age. If you have any other tricks up your sleeves I suggest you start pulling them out now."
Spears of sand shot into Haku from behind, who had a visible look of surprise on his face at the sudden sneak attack. Gaara continued to laugh with increasing madness as he sent more and more spears of sand piercing into Haku's body until he is nothing more than a pincushion dangling from the spikes of sand. The crowd gasped and cringed at the violent display as Gaara continue to maim the corpse of the ice wielder with a psychotic laugh.
"I SURVIVED! I AM ALIVE! I AM ALIVE!"
"Hey, what a coincidence, me too."
Gaara jumped back in shock at the sound of that damn voice. He looked towards Haku, who is still dangling from the numerous spears of sand that impaled him. There is even one that went through the left side of his face.
Somehow, Haku is still trying to make conversation with him in this state. He is somehow still alive and uncaring at how…
HOW IS HE EVEN STILL ALIVE?!
"Hanabi is so going to give me a good telling off later for giving her the scare, but meh, whatever."
To Gaara's horror and amazement, Haku broke down into pieces of ice. The pieces of scattered ice floated and reformed above the spears of sand and Haku looked back down at Gaara once more without a single hair out of place as he somehow hovered in mid-air without any form of visible aid.
"Is that all? I am disappointed, Gaara of the Desert. I had expected more from you."
Gaara's only reply was a Sand Drizzle that rained bullets of sand in an explosive manner, shooting holes through Haku once more. However, Haku just remain hovering in the air and let the bullets of sand shoot through him. It didn't take long for Gaara to realise.
Haku is incapable of taking damage from his sand. Haku is invincible against everything he can throw at him.
Gaara can feel the panic and fear in him rising once more. No matter what he did, this Haku guy just won't go down. He isn't even serious in their fight.
For once in a long time, Gaara starts to fear for his life.
Should he call upon Mother's help?
Release me. You need me. Only I care about you. Nobody knows you better than I do.
Shut up, SHUT UP!
Call upon my powers, my child.
You need me
Yes. Only Mother had been there for him when he needed it most. The only person he can trust in this world is her.
Gaara quickly surrounded himself in a cocoon of sand as he began the preparations for the Feigning Sleep Technique while increasing the intensity of his Sand Drizzle on Haku to keep the ice wielder at bay.
He will survive, and he will kill Haku.
Only then can he feel alive.
So finally, it got to this stage. This means that the invasion will finally start in full swing once I got this over and done with.
I think I had traumatised Gaara enough with my inability to die no matter what he did to try and kill me. It is an effort on my part to force him to use the Feigning Sleep Technique early. I want to scare him enough for him to throw caution to the wind and make him do irrational stuffs. If the invasion does happen, then I want to foil Orochimaru's plan as much as possible by making sure Gaara won't go full Shukaku mode in Konoha. I have to take Gaara out of the picture if Konoha is to remain standing after this. I still don't have much love for this place, but the people who I cared about do. For them, I will use my newfound powers to help defend this village that I have no love for.
I held out my right hand with my palm facing upwards as I slowly manifested the famous chakra ball that the entire Elemental Nations is so afraid of. I can hear the shocked and surprised gasps and feel the looks of disbelief being directed at me as I successfully formed the Rasengan in my hands.
There is an eyeball of sand above Gaara's sand cocoon and I have no doubt Gaara is using it to watch my every move. This is a little too similar to what happened in canon, but at least I know what he is probably trying to do next.
Without any prior warning, I flew forward towards Gaara in a burst of speed. Spears of sand sprang up to stop me but I froze them and then quickly shatter them into pieces with a wave of my left hand as I continued my charge.
Gaara's sand cannot stop me and my ice. Maybe he could after a few years, but not now. Thanks to the insanely brilliant invention of my new godfather to enter my own mindscape, I have years of experience over Gaara in trying to learn how to use my powers properly. I can freeze Gaara's sand and then shatter them, negating any attack that he tries to kill me with.
I am unstoppable.
I gave a brief touch at Gaara's sand cocoon with my left hand and froze it within a split second. Another split second later, the ice shattered into a million pieces, revealing a very fearful Gaara.
"RASENGAN!"
I slammed my godfather's signature jutsu into Gaara and Suna's jinchuriki was sent crashing through his own sand and only came to a stop when he got himself embedded deep into the walls of the arena. I can see why canon Naruto enjoyed spamming this jutsu. It is fun to use and the damage dealt to your foes is actually pretty huge.
Surprisingly, Gaara is still conscious and kicking about after receiving the full brunt of the Rasengan. Is this the power of a jinchuriki?
"ARGH! BLOOD! MY BLOOD!"
I couldn't really concentrate on what Gaara is screaming about as my eyelids suddenly have a heavy weight to it. It is only spotting many of the spectators dropping down into a deep sleep from the corner of my eyes did I remember what is about to happen.
This isn't the time to fall asleep. The invasion is really going to happen.
Kai!
I dispersed myself into shards of ice and reappeared next to the proctor with our backs facing each other. He is the closest ally to me right now. He already has his sword drawn out and all hints of his sickly demeanour is now somehow gone. Right now, he is a deadly shinobi of Konoha ready to defend his homeland.
Several parts of the stadium are also now engulfed in flames and explosions. The invasion is really happening.
War is here.
The worst part?
It seems that somehow, Kumo is allying themselves with Suna and Oto. Konoha is caught in a war against three shinobi villages and two of them are from the Big Five.
This is not supposed to happen.
"Kid, you alright? Chakra reserves getting low or anything?"
"I will be fine for a while. What about you? No offense, but will your cough suddenly give you a heart attack or anything?"
"None taken, and the answer is no." Hayate commented as Suna shinobis started to surround us in a circle together with a few Oto ones in the mix.
Hayate got into a stance.
"Watch out, here they come."
"Let me handle them."
I exploded into shards of ice and tore through the eight shinobis that leapt at us, killing them instantly.
"Urgh, not trying that again." I said in disgust as I reformed my body and flicked whatever blood that is still clinging on there off my ice body. I looked up and watched the stadium.
Chaos. It is utter chaos.
The jonin senseis are protecting my fellow genins as the few that are able to stay awake through the initial genjutsu attack quickly woke those that are unable to defend themselves from it. Good, they are all safe.
"Ice boy, scatter!"
Hayate's warning got me turning into my intangible state immediately as a large fist punched into my previous location just right after I dispersed myself into shards of ice.
"Hey, you are the Raikage. Pick someone your own size."
I looked at Ay in contempt as I reformed my body far away from him. Why is he picking a fight with me out of so many people here?! He is a Kage and an S Rank shinobi and he is picking on a genin?!
"You and your little girlfriend are too dangerous to let live with what you two are able to do. Take pride in the fact that I myself had personally come to finish you. Now, die!"
"Too slow."
I disappeared into a mirror of ice and let a large number of my mirrors form around the entire stadium. Even I lost count at how many I had created. The moisture from the frozen lake that I had created is very advantageous for me. I have the environmental advantage.
There are also many hostile shinobis in the arena fighting it out with Konoha shinobis as well. I have to thin out the numbers as much as possible. The fact that I can piss the Raikage off even further is just another bonus. I really don't like this man; this is the guy that gave the order to kidnap Hanabi and force her into a life of slavery. I am not strong enough to face him in direct combat now, but I will kill him the moment I have the chance when I grow older.
Right now, I will just settle on making his life in Konoha very miserable. Time to recreate another overpowered fictional power over ice.
Black clouds start to form overhead and a large amount of snow falls upon the entire area as I zipped around my mirrors to avoid the angry Raikage gunning to kill me. I am surprised that I managed to stay out of his reach for as long as I did.
"Ice Release Forbidden Art: Hyōten Hyakkasō!"
With a special hand seal I invented to kickstart this jutsu, Hitsugaya Toshiro's power is recreated. It is what he used to bring Harribel down in the Bleach series. This is also one of my strongest jutsus. The power and utility behind it is so strong that I myself had deemed it to be a forbidden technique.
The snow that had landed on my enemies suddenly sprout into various shapes of frozen flowers as they screamed in pain. Some of the smarter ones managed to rid themselves of the snow before the jutsu took effect, but now they are also on the run from my snow which is falling everywhere around a large section of Konoha. My allies remain unharmed as they took this opportunity to hack our enemies into little bloody pieces. Or simply blast them into oblivion, whichever works best for them.
My years of studies and research behind chakra theory and how it works finally paid off. I wouldn't have been able to recreate this technique otherwise.
Even if this is a recreation of Toshiro's technique, the actual workings behind this jutsu works in a similar way to the Uchiha's Amaterasu. As long as there is chakra, my ice flowers will continue to bloom and grow. It will only stop when there is no more chakra left to feed on. This is the perfect jutsu against anyone with huge amount of chakra or if I have to fight against an entire army by myself. The best possible way to defend against this jutsu of mine is to not let my snow come into contact with anything that has chakra in the first place.
Which is actually damn hard to do realistically. Almost everything a shinobi does in combat involves chakra in one way or another. Even Rock Lee uses chakra to strengthen his punches and kicks despite being unable to use ninjutsu or genjutsu.
"YOU DAMN BRAT!"
"Ice Release: Ice Cavalry!"
Armoured soldiers of ice appeared and rushed at the Raikage at my command. The Raikage charged through my ice army as I took this chance to make my great escape. It is not a bad thing that his attention is on me. At least the other Konoha shinobis are safe from his wrath.
Huge blasts of condensed electricity fired at me as I took to the skies. My snow is still falling and taking out many of the invading army at a rapid rate, allowing Konoha shinobis to repel the attack with increasing success.
"BEE! DISPERSE THE CLOUDS! DON'T LET THE SNOW CONTINUE TO FALL!"
What in the actual fuck? Killer Bee is here too?
A massive octopus-bull creature made its sudden appearance known by destroying a section of Konoha's walls. I can see many of our shinobis moving to stop Bee as he charged up a massive Tailed Beast Bomb.
Even I can't stop that. At least not now.
The dark ball of doom flew towards the black clouds that I had summoned to rain snow upon the stadium and the only thing I can do is to continue running for my life with Ay trying to kill me. I had honestly thought that this is how one of my best jutsus will be stopped.
Only for a yellow flash to shine and got in its way. The ball of chakra got sucked into a space-time technique and I watched in awe as the same dark ball of doom suddenly reappeared before Bee and collided into him, pushing him away from Konoha's walls.
"Kushina! I am leaving Bee to you! I am going in to save Haku!"
A massive amount of chains was the only response to Minato's words as they lashed out at the Hachibi like angry serpents. I cannot see her from where I am right now, but I can tell that my godmother is angry.
Extremely angry.
My godfather reappeared beside me in the air. Since when did he place a Flying Thunder God Seal on me without me knowing about it?
And wait a sec…
"You can fly?"
"Of course I can. You think Onoki and you are the only people in the Elemental Nations capable of doing it? Seals can do anything, Haku. I taught you that."
"You taught this brat?"
The Raikage made his presence known as he stood at the top of the highest point of the stadium with his armour of lightning coating him and buzzing with power.
He is way out of my league. If it wasn't for the speed and intangibility my powers over ice gave me, I would be dead a long time ago. Only my godfather can handle him right now.
Minato put a hand on my shoulder to get his attention on me. How did he not get a frostbite by touching me? The degree of coldness I am emitting is enough to give anyone that I come into contact with a severe frostbite.
"Haku, get out of here. Leave this to me. I know you don't really have any love for the village but do me a favour and help us kill as many enemies as you can. Just don't overexert yourself. Please, Haku. Konoha needs your help."
"You don't need to ask. For you and Kushina-kaachan, I will do it."
I started to make my leave before taking a brief pause and whispered something to him. I then proceed to make my way back to my team. They will need me. We need to help defend Konoha.
For the people that I care about, I will protect this village.
"Don't die, Minato-touchan."
Minato cannot help but let a small smile appear on his face. He knows how much Haku avoided using that particular honorific due to what his biological father did. The fact that he called him by that is proof that his godson cares a lot about him as well.
Haku is healing and is almost reaching full recovery. It is a good sign.
"I respect you as a fellow shinobi, but you made a fatal mistake, Ay." Minato said as he entered Sage Mode and instantly his senses sharpened.
"Konoha is too strong. As the Raikage, I have to take your village down for the sake of my village." Ay replied as increasing surges of lightning coated his huge body. The last time they clashed was during the Third War. The victor back then was undecided.
It will be decided now.
"That isn't what I am talking about. We always knew that such a possibility may happen during the exams. The fact that you are willing to send your genins here is suspicious enough. Konoha is prepared for such a possibility. Regretfully, you went through with it, but this isn't the only reason why I am angry." Minato replied as he disappeared in a flash of yellow the moment Ay charged at him with a Lariat.
"You dared to hurt my son."
Minato uses his ability to tap into the natural force of the world and the very air itself is now at his command. With a swipe of his hand, numerous waves of wind blades coated with senjutsu chakra shot at Ay, forcing him to run for cover from the sheer destructive power of the attack.
"That is your mistake, and I will make you pay for it."
It really isn't hard to spot where Hanabi is.
A violent torrent of flames exploded at the side of the stadium and I quickly rained down shards of sharp ice at anyone who was lucky enough to escape from it. They are not so lucky now that I am here.
"Haku! You are alright! I saw the Raikage-"
"Minato-touchan is handling him in my stead." I replied as I froze a group of Oto shinobis in ice before they could attack us. "Are you alright? Any bloody holes in your body that needs to be plugged with my ice?"
"YOU! That reminds me! What were you thinking, giving me the biggest scare of my life by letting Gaara shooting his sand spikes into you?! Do you know-"
"She nearly went down to murder eyebags-kun, that is basically what happened." Sai summarised Hanabi's words as he slit the throat of a Suna shinobi and we got into formation with our backs facing each other. "Tobi-sensei and I had to physically hold her back."
"Where is this eyebags-kun anyway? I lost sight of him the moment the Raikage was trying to kill me."
"He escaped. Boobless, ugly, and duck-ass along with Team 10 and Team 8 is hunting him down. It is obvious that he is a jinchuriki in that previous battle. We cannot allow him to fully transform, one of those is already keeping us very busy."
Sai gave a brief jerk of his head towards where Bee is duking it out with my godmother. From the looks of it, my godmother is somehow able to fight Bee on equal ground and preventing him from coming near to the village.
"Do we have any orders from sensei?" I asked as I moved in tandem with my team and helped to repel the invading forces of Oto, Suna, and Kumo shinobis out of our village.
"We have two. One: Don't let the enemies in any further than they already are. Two: Don't die."
"They are the ones who are going to die." Hanabi growled out as she burned a group of unfortunate Kumo shinobis into a crisp with another huge inferno by pulling off a successful sneak attack. "Especially the Kumo ones. Now I have the perfect excuse to kill them all. I want payback."
"Haku! Hanabi! Sai!"
Team Gai made a flashy entrance as they rammed through their opposition and stood beside us. The six of us stood in a circle facing outwards as enemy shinobis surrounded us. They are a little wary of facing us in combat after we proved that no ordinary shinobis can take us down.
"Hey Neji." We may be stuck in a war right now, but I think we can all afford to take a temporary break to relieve the stress and pressure building up inside us. Tenten's hands are already starting to shake from all the built-up stress this sudden war had brought along. I don't want her to slip up from the intense pressure that she is experiencing, that can get her killed. I need to temporarily divert her attention elsewhere.
"What is it, Haku-nii? We are all busy right now."
"Nice hair."
With the exception of Neji, we all allowed a small laugh to escape us as we took this as an unspoken signal to charge in and destroy our enemies. Neji's hair is still covered in those sparkling pink glitter even if he had somehow found a way to get rid most of it from his clothes.
His hair wasn't so lucky though.
"I will have my revenge, Haku-nii."
"Careful there, ototo, you are falling to the dark side."
Seeing that I had succeeded in getting them to calm down and relieve the pressure that they are experiencing, we continue to defend our location as we worked with some of our allies to prevent the invading force from making their way in any further.
"Haku, are you sure you can hold your jutsu for long?" Hanabi asked worriedly as a palm strike from her sent a Suna shinobi flying away from the impact. "Your jutsus got to be chakra intensive."
"Don't worry about that." I replied as I touched a nearby pillar of ice with many ice flowers growing on it. It seems that someone here was unlucky enough to get caught in my snow.
"Watch and learn, Hanabi."
I can feel the battles around me taking a temporary pause as I did the impossible and sucked the ice into my body through my palm. While the snow is created from my own chakra, it had grown and multiplied the moment it came into contact with these unlucky chaps. My chakra had leeched onto theirs and used theirs to grow, the visible end result is the pillar of ice with ice flowers blooming on it.
What I just did is to reabsorb the multiplied chakra back into my body. It is difficult to do so, but it can be done. I had spent an entire year in my mindscape trying to achieve that and reach the level of proficiency that I currently have. With this jutsu active, my stamina will never run out as long as there are pillars of ice around. In this scenario, theoretically, I can hold onto my Ice Body jutsu indefinitely. The same goes for my Hyōten Hyakkasō. It is like having an ice version of Amaterasu at my disposal. As long as there is chakra to feed on, my jutsu will continue to live and grow in a never-ending cycle.
It is a jutsu that will never die until its enemies perish. This is the ultimate jutsu that I created to fight jinchurikis on equal ground by turning their main advantage, their massive chakra reserves, against them. I can turn their chakra and reabsorb it as mine, giving me the chakra and stamina I need to fight against stamina freaks and chakra monsters.
Thank you, Kisame, for the inspiration behind this combat style that I came up with. Your battle with Bee in canon was very inspiring.
The remains of the frozen shinobi fell limply onto the ground the moment I reabsorbed the ice. I can feel my chakra reserves replenishing.
"Ice Release: Ice Storm"
I wasted no time in freezing the shinobis in front of us into a massive iceberg. Any shinobis that managed to get away were quickly hunted down by the rest of my friends and our allies.
"Yosh! Haku-san, it seems that I will have to make you my eternal rival as well! I challenge you-"
"Not now, Lee." Neji cut his teammate off with a disapproving tone, but his sparkling pink hair really isn't helping him to bring his point across.
"WATCH OUT! IT'S YUGITO NII!"
A blast of blue flames exploded not far from where we are as the Nibi appeared in Konoha in all its glory. The flames incinerated a good portion of Konoha as the monster cat howled its challenge into the sky.
"What… What the hell is that?!" Tenten shouted as we all hid ourselves behind a large debris to escape the flames the monster cat is emitting.
"A jinchuriki." I muttered just loud enough for my friends to hear. "This invasion just went out of control. Konoha is getting itself invaded by Suna, Kumo, and Oto. It will take a miracle for the village to survive this. We practically invited them to our doorsteps with this exam."
"Konoha will win!" Lee exclaimed out loud as he crossed his arms in front of him in an 'X' shape stance. "I will just-"
"Don't bother, Lee." I interrupted Lee before he can even think about using his Eight Gates. "Unless you are capable of going into the Seventh or even the Last Gate, then don't. You will just be doing wasted actions."
"Run!" Hanabi suddenly shouted as she pulled us along. Her byakugan must have spotted something we missed. "The cat is coming!"
A large paw smashed down into where we were as the cat screeched at us. There's nowhere else to run. Yugito had surrounded this entire area with her flames acting as an impassable wall. I can try to fly over it and bring my friends along, but I doubt that Yugito will give me this chance.
We are trapped.
"Kids, get out of here!"
A small squad of Uchihas from the Konoha Military Police Force blasted huge fireballs on the Nibi to get its attention on them instead. There are some who tried to use their ocular powers to cast a genjutsu on the Nibi but it didn't work. Their genjutsus didn't have the same potency as what Madara is capable of. From the way they are recklessly throwing themselves into the fray, it is obvious that they are trying to buy us time to escape.
They are sacrificing their lives for us.
A powerful swipe of the Nibi's paws sent everything and everyone in the vicinity to fly away from the force of the blow. I used my powers over ice to encase everyone that I can see in a cocoon of ice each, hoping that it is just enough to save them.
"Thanks, kid, you just saved our hide." One of the Uchihas thanked me as he stood back up and got into a defensive stance, putting himself in between us and the monster cat. "But you guys really need to go. We can't have our next generation dying in this war."
"Umm… we don't mean to be rude, Uchiha-san, but there's nowhere to run." Sai very helpfully reminded us of the bleak circumstances that we had got ourselves into as he pointed at the blue flames that surrounded the area that we are in. "At this rate, we will all get ourselves cooked alive."
"I can try to dispel the flames. It may be our only way out of here." Neji stated as he coated his hands in chakra once more.
"You need to have at least the same amount of chakra that these flames have to do that." Hanabi shot that idea down as quickly as it had come. "This is one of the weakness of your technique. The bigger the technique you want to dispel, the larger amount of chakra you need. Right now, you don't even have a tenth of the chakra that these flames have."
"I can create an opening for everyone to escape." I said as I raised a palm into the sky to begin calling upon every single ice pillar I can sense with my powers. "Everybody, step back. I am going to create something big."
"How big?" Sai asked as my friends heeded my words and started to retreat. Even our nearby allies did so as they chose to place their faith in my words.
We don't have a better option against a Tailed Beast.
I didn't reply Sai's question as a massive number of ice pillars floated into the air from all around the stadium and converged onto my location. I flew up and absorbed them all and I can feel my chakra reserves reaching an all-time high.
"Ice Release" I whispered out as I stared down at Yugito in her Nibi form. I had successfully caught her attention with my showy display and the amount of chakra I am gathering.
"Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō"
Komamura's Bankai ability came into life through my ice as a colossal living armour of ice manifested onto the battlefield. I panted as I try to catch my breath after using this jutsu. I had almost expended all the excess chakra I had gathered with just this move alone. Even Hyōten Hyakkasō had stopped the moment I used this technique. Somehow, I still didn't manage to get Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō and Hyōten Hyakkasō to be able to work with one another simultaneously during my training trip. I need to start and work on that pronto once this invasion is over.
Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō is our last hope in surviving Yugito Nii's attack. Hyōten Hyakkasō won't work against her since Matatabi's flames will simply melt my snow even before it reaches Yugito. This is my final option.
With a mental command, I sent my ice warrior to engage Yugito in her Tailed Beast form. A heavy punch from my warrior sent her flying out of Konoha's walls at the cost of my construct's entire arm. I made a hand seal and immediately began to repair the damage my ice warrior suffered. The flames from the Nibi is the worst possible match up for my ice even with Iced Shell empowering the ability of my ice to freeze its targets. My ice may not be ordinary ice, but the flames from a Tailed Beast aren't ordinary flames either.
But defeating her isn't what I am aiming for. With Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō, I can use it to dig the earth and carve a path open that is free from the hellish blue flames. My friends can escape with our allies tagging along for the free ride.
"Kid, I will take it from here! Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"
Wood Release? Is it Yamato? Or was his name Tenzo?
At the same time, the ground behind us parted and revealed an open path for the trapped occupants to run through. A familiar looking shinobi dashed to the front of the battlefield just as an enormous wood dragon sprouted out from the ground and coiled itself around Yugito, restraining her and suppressing the chakra given to her from her feline friend.
It really is him. Was Yamato this strong in canon?
A blur dropped down from the sky and sent Yugito crashing into the ground violently with a drop kick. Senju Tsunade leapt back from the newly formed crater and joined us. The seal on her forehead is already active and is healing the burns she suffered from coming into close contact with Matatabi's flames.
"Mum, leave the fighting to me. My Wood Release can handle the Nibi no problems."
"You are still too young to tell me what to do, Yamato."
I gave a look of disbelief at the two elder shinobis from where I am behind them. Yamato is Tsunade's son?! He is a Senju?! Is this why his Wood Release is so much stronger than what I remembered it to be?
So that means the mysterious son that Tsunade and Dan have is Yamato. Interesting. What else had changed that I don't know of?
"Kid." Tsunade turned to address me as Yamato went through jutsus to summon more wood to suppress Yugito, who is now screaming furiously and trying to get herself out the bind she found herself in. "You think you can stay a little longer to help us out? Your ice giant may be needed to take this overgrown cat down for good."
"I'm running out of chakra. Fast." I admitted as I floated down to stand beside her. "My ice pillars are gone and I don't have enough time and chakra to form more of those. The fact that our enemies are now wary of my snow is also not helping things. If you can spare me some chakra, I can last however long you want me to as long as I have chakra to spend."
"Take it. Katsuyu."
A small slug appeared from the cracks of the debris and latched itself onto me. I can feel my chakra being replenished at a rapid rate.
"Katsuyu is now spread out across Konoha trying to keep casualties to a minimum. I can only spare you so much, kid. Use it wisely. Follow my lead and we can take this cat down, you get me?"
"Crystal."
Tsunade led the charge just as Yugito forcefully tore through the amount of wood binding her. My ice warrior swung its frozen sword down at her head and Yugito moved to jump out of the way. Her plan was foiled as Tsunade's powerful punch sent her back to the path the massive blade of ice took and I struck her down.
"Tsunade-san, Minato-touchan taught me several ways to suppress a Tailed Beast. Let me try it out."
"That brat did?" Tsunade raised a sceptical eye at me but didn't stop what I am going to do. "Well, go on. There's only so much Yamato can do. His Wood Release is not as potent as his great-grandfather."
Konan from Akatsuki is able to turn her body into paper just like how I am able to turn my body into ice. The papers she used are riddled with seals. Explosive seals, to be exact. She used this ability to turn herself into a walking bomb.
I can do something similar too.
I cannot write anything on ice due to its physical properties. Any ink used to write on the surface of my ice will just get itself smudged, but seals can be created in many other ways other than drawing it out with ink.
Seals can also be carved into solid objects.
It is how the seals on Konoha's walls are able to last as long as they did. Carving seals onto solid objects is a lot harder than writing it out with ink, but the upside is that the carved seals tend to last a lot longer than their written counterparts.
If I cannot write seals on my ice, I will just "carve" it on them. I can simply create constructs of ice with seal markings etched on it. I can do it easily with just a mere thought since I don't need to "carve" it, but to merely visualise and then create it.
Ice is versatile in many ways and I am going to fully exploit this fact. If I want to survive in this insane world, then I will need to do everything I can and squeeze every knowledge I have to become as strong as possible. I will become an S Rank shinobi. Not only to keep myself alive, but to help protect those who care for me and who I care about in return. I will not allow anyone to stand in the way of my goal.
"Ice Release: Adamantine Sealing Chains"
As homage to my godmother's signature technique, numerous chains of ice shot out from my ice body and wrapped around Yugito in addition to Yamato's wood dragons. These aren't just normal ice chains; I have created them with seals already etched on it. These are seals that Minato had taught me himself.
I had severely underestimated my godfather's brilliance and the impact he can bring about to the world after he survived the Kyubi attack.
Minato is a certified genius, there's no arguing this. His wife was a jinchuriki and his daughter was forced to be one. Naturally, people are fearful of them as they are afraid that the beast within them might claw its way out of its seal and wreck havoc on the village once more.
To quell the public's fear and also to protect his family, Minato had devised a way using the Uzumaki's Eight Trigrams Sealing Style to fully suppress the Kyubi should it ever get loose once more. The biggest breakthrough is that there is no longer a need to call upon the Shinigami to seal the Kyubi once more even if it is fully released but at the same time, the resulting seal will now have the same effect as though the Shinigami was being called upon.
Minato had basically invented a new way to seal Tailed Beasts with the same benefits of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal without its drawbacks. This achievement alone makes him a very powerful individual. As far as I know, only him and my godmother is capable of using this technique due to their mastery over seals.
Minato had found a way to do this only a few years after surviving the Kyubi attack. Because of his new "invention", he and Kushina are the only ones in Konoha that can safely stop Naruto should she lose control of her tenant. It is what made him so influential in the village and is what made people respect him as much as they fear his strength.
And he taught the secret behind that technique to me. He taught me the secret to not only stop jinchurikis, but to also create one if I can ever find and suppress a Tailed Beast without a host and then shove it into some unlucky soul.
I know the significance and importance behind wielding this power and I really don't want to learn it when he offered me the chance to learn the inner workings behind the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style. I don't want to undermine his importance to the village, but the reason he gave me left me unable to refuse his offer.
"Kushina and I won't be able to accompany Naruto forever, Haku. In the worst case that we aren't around for whatever reasons when she loses control, I can at least take solace in the fact that you can possibly stop her on her rampage. Konoha needs more people capable of stopping Tailed Beasts and not just rely on the Wood Release or the Sharingan. Only the Shodai and Madara is able to do that anyway. Fugaku could, but he cannot sustain his control over the Tailed Beast for long. Seals are still the best way to contain Tailed Beasts, this is why we have jinchurikis."
"But this is no small matter! This isn't like teaching me the Rasengan! The impact behind what you are trying to let me learn will get the whole village-"
"And that is what I want. I want the entire village to recognise your importance to them. I want them to accept you, and if giving you power can achieve it, then it is what I am going to do."
"Minato-shishou! I am a flight risk! You cannot just-"
"And will you betray me or Kushina?"
"…No."
"Then that settles it. In the case where Kushina and I aren't around, I am leaving my daughter in your care, Haku."
I hate it when he uses my trust I have for him to get me to agree on certain things. I know what he is trying to do is to get me into the village's good graces and I know what he did is to get the village to accept me. I still think that he places way too much trust in me.
But currently, I'm glad that I learnt the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style from him.
My proficiency in the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style is still half-baked compared to Minato and I am not good enough in it to use it alone without backup. With my current proficiency, using the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style in this manner will leave me momentarily defenceless. I am not yet on Minato's level of skill. It was why I didn't use it against Yugito until Yamato and Tsunade appeared. They are the perfect backup with their skillsets. I cannot do anything fancy with the sealing techniques now, but it should be enough to help Tsunade and Yamato to seal the Nibi's chakra.
"Nice going, kid! Yamato! We are suppressing the Nibi and then capturing the jinchuriki alive!"
Yugito getting captured by Konoha? Canon is really spiralling out of control.
Ah well, screw the plot. Hanabi and the people that I care about are alive and this is the only thing that matters.
They are the only ones that matter to me. The rest of them can take a backseat.
Kill the Hyuga heiress
Darui idly unleashed a massive charge of black lightning that instantly killed a small group of Konoha shinobis. He has an order from his Raikage and he will see it done.
Even if it leaves a bad taste in his mouth.
A kid. His Raikage wants him to off a kid simply because she is talented enough to recreate a variation of his signature technique. It is an order given to him by his Raikage the moment the invasion started. The Raikage will personally go to kill the Yuki boy while he will use the opportunity in this joint invasion to kill the Hyuga girl.
Darui cannot deny that Hanabi's feat is a cause of concern for Kumo. Their village knows the exact weight behind the ability to be able to actually use that particular jutsu in the first place. The fact that the Hyuga girl can actually use her own version of the Chakra Mode is enough to bump up her ranking to at least a B rank even at her current age.
If Kumo lets her continue to grow as it is, she will reach S Class by the time she becomes an adult. For the sake of their village, Hyuga Hanabi has to be killed. It is too dangerous otherwise. Konoha is too strong as it is and no one wants them to continue to accumulate power and churn out geniuses like it is their homegrown produce.
The balance between the Big Five has to be maintained for the sake of the world. If this means that he has to go against his own morals and conscience to kill a kid, he will do it.
After all, he is the Raikage's right hand man.
A blast of fire caught his attention and Darui immediately starts to make his way there. Judging from the chakra he felt from that blast of fire, that is likely where the heiress is. The heiress that their village once tried to kidnap but failed. To think that she grew to be this strong.
If only her kidnapping was successful, then he wouldn't have to kill her.
"Crackers! Watch out!"
Sai's warning immediately got Hanabi dodging to a side as a huge wave of black lightning tore through the ground that their group was at. A tanned skin Kumo jonin stood with a lazy posture and a cleaver resting on his shoulder, staring at her with a look of reluctance.
"Sorry, kid. But I have my orders. Don't think too badly of me."
A swift execution of various Lightning Release techniques got their group to disperse as the jonin used this chance to leap at her to try and bisect her with his cleaver. Hanabi immediately went on the defensive as she tried to protect herself. She may have got a lot stronger in this one month, but this jonin is too strong for her right now.
And why is he concentrating his attacks on her and her only?!
Hanabi was soon forced to be on the run as the jonin successfully separated her from her friends with his attacks. This jonin has an agenda in trying to kill her. But why? Is it because she recreated the Raikage's technique? Do they see her as a future threat that needs to be nipped in the bud right now?
That will make a lot of sense.
No matter what Hanabi did to force the jonin to get off her tail, he will soon catch up and she will be once again forced to be on the run. The difference in their power is still too large for her to do anything. The fact that her chakra levels are dropping isn't helping matters too. She also hadn't brought along any soldier pills or the likes since she never thought she will need them. Big oversight on her part. She should have put some into her weapons pouch even if she had never used those pills before.
But to be fair, who would have expected an invasion of all things to happen?! Right in the middle of their home no less!
Hanabi quickly ducked when a surge of black lightning came roaring at her and she quickly dashed through a hole in a broken wall. She doesn't even have the time to look at where she is going now. The jonin is catching up to her, fast. She needs to find a way to lose him.
She is too tired to continue fighting. The moment the Kumo jonin got within slashing distance with his blade, she is done for.
Oh, is that Haku? She is back at where they were earlier?
Haku is now helping Tsunade and another male shinobi to suppress Yugito, who seemed to have been forced to revert back to her human form although there is still a red shroud of ominous chakra surrounding her. What is that? The sight of that chakra alone gives her the heebie-jeebies, especially with her byakugan on.
Haku had also turned around and spotted her. She wanted to say something to him, anything, but Haku screamed at her even before she can react.
"HANABI! RUN!"
Hanabi dodged to the left on instinct as a massive cleaver slashed at where she was. What was she thinking, spacing out in the middle of a battlefield like that?
"Storm Release: Laser Circus!"
Beams of bright energy were shot out from the Kumo jonin and Hanabi desperately tried to find a way out with her byakugan.
There isn't one as far as her eyes can see.
She could try to use another Kaiten, but her chakra reserve is so low now that her Fire Release Chakra Mode had already shut down a minute ago. She is barely managing to stand with how exhausted she is now. Realistically speaking, there's no way she can pull off any massive in her current state. She could maybe time the release of her chakra through her tenketsu points just at the moment of impact when the beams struck her to deflect or soften the blow, but she doubts it will be of any use.
She is going to die here.
The extended range of her byakugan also allows her to see that Haku had immediately abandoned his position right beside Tsunade as he dived into his ice mirrors in an attempt to reach her. Yugito had also taken this opportunity to try and fight her way out of her constraints as Tsunade yelled at Haku to get back to her side to help suppress Yugito.
What her eyes do see, is that there is no way Haku can reach her in time.
For some reason, time seems to slow down at the sight of her imminent death. She can see ice starting to form around her and Haku's form starting to emerge to try and put himself in harm's way to save her. She can see how Yugito is howling in rage while Tsunade and the male shinobi are frantically doing their best to stop her from rampaging once more.
She can see how the beams of light the Kumo jonin shot at her will pierce her. The attack fired by the Kumo shinobi is faster. Haku won't be able to reach her in time.
Hanabi used the last of her time in this world and turned to Haku, taking in his visage once more. She can see the looks of worry on his face. She can see how desperate he is trying to reach her and pull her out of the danger like what he always did.
Hanabi allowed a tear to leak out from her eye.
I'm sorry Haku.
I will be taking my leave first. Don't come after me anytime soon. Don't do anything stupid.
Help me take care of Otou-sama and Nee-san, will you?
From the edge of her vision, Hanabi can see that the beams of light will reach her any second now. Hanabi allowed a peaceful smile on her face as she finally mustered the courage to speak out the three words that she had always wanted to tell him.
"I love you"
And she knew no more.