Chapter 35
The masked nin brought much-needed relief to her as Hinata and Kabuto carried the injured and unconscious forms of Choji and Kiba on their backs. Hinata had wanted to stay back and help her teammates, but the ringing alarms and the severity of injuries of Kiba-kun and Choji-kun had forced her hand, but now her mission was over.
All of them landed infront of the masked nin, as Hinata lowered the form of Kiba-kun as their third teammate began.
"They need medical attention," he implored, but the squad of four masked ANBU was unmoved.
"We will get them that as soon as we can, but you need to move out of the forest. The village is under attack," and that much she had realised.
"By who?" she asked.
"Sunagakure and Otogakure," they answered, and as much as she wished to evacuate, she could not.
"I need to go back. I need to help my teammates," she uttered, but the masked nin was in her way, much to her surprise.
"We need you to go to the evacuation zone. The forest is no place for genins now," he balked angrily through his mask, as Hinata pushed chakra into her Byakugan.
"I need to go to my teammate..." Yet just then, a sudden burst of ancient and corrosive chakra rushed through the forest, as a shiver ran down her spine.
And this was not the first time she had felt such chakra, and that was what worried her more.
"Naruto-kun," she gasped as she turned around, but she was too far away to sense him, yet the burst of chakra continued to grow more powerful.
"I need to go now," she said, but the three masked nin blocked her path.
"You don't understand. You have to le..."
"Please, Hinata-san," the masked nin placed a calming hand on her shoulder.
"You need to listen to them," he said, and she shook her head.
"I ca'..." yet she felt a burst of chakra from his hand, and before she could react, she felt her entire body grow stiff, as she fell to the ground, and dread began to twist her stomach as the glasses-wearing shinobi stepped over her, and looked down.
"You could have made it easier," and with that, her vision began to go dark, as he turned to the masked nin and ordered.
"Take her..."
0000
HIRUZEN SARUTOBI
Hiruzen had long prepared him for this day. Ever since information had begun to come about his wayward student, he had known that a day would come when his resolve would be put to the test once more.
That one day he would again face his most prized student in battle, and he had promised himself that at that time he would not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Years ago, Hiruzen had wasted an opportunity to put an end to Orochimaru's sick plans, but now he would not make that mistake again. Never again.
"You have grown old, sensei," Orochimaru cut in as they stood trapped within that barrier of his, and there were squads of ANBU standing outside it, and Hiruzen could see the smoke and fire that had erupted all over the village from the top of the tower.
"We will see about that," he answered, as each of them waited for the other to make the first move.
"I knew that you were troubled, but I never thought that you would fall so low as to attack your own village," and his wayward student chuckled at those words.
"Troubled? Is that what you think of me, sensei?" and with that, he tore at his skin, and Hiruzen frowned as he saw a new face emerge from underneath his skin, and as he realised the meaning behind that, his stomach twisted in revulsion.
"I am not troubled, sensei. No, I am a visionary who has ventured into places which few men have dared to look into," and he should have stopped him then.
He should have.
"Impossible," he gasped, and Orochimaru shook his head, inhabiting a new body.
"Not so, and I have this village for turning me to this path," and Hiruzen shook his head.
"We did not make you into this," he said as he grabbed his robes and tore them away as, revealing the armor he wore underneath.
"You have lost your way, Orochimaru, and as your former sensei, I shall do everything in my power to stop you," and with that, he bit into his thumb and began to cycle through a set of handseals.
"But do you think that will be enough?" and with that, Hiruzen slapped his hand on the floor as he summoned his most prized companion.
POOOF!
"ENMA! Transform!" and immediately he had his staff in his hands, and as he ran towards Orochimaru, he whispered.
"Expand!" and the staff expanded, though not before Orochimaru's body fell away, revealing itself to be a clone, before he found himself the target of aa great ball of fire.
Hiruzen turned around and spun the staff in his hands, and dispersed the fire jutsu, before using his own ninjutsu.
"Earth Style: Mud Dragon..." and the ground beside him turned into an Earthen dragon, which rushed towards Orochimaru, who jumped up to avoid it, but Hirzuen had predicted that, and was already up in the air.
"You still have your bad habits," and with that he swung his staff at him, and his wayward student was sent reeling back, as he landed on the ground and got into his stance once more.
"You are decades too young to stand against me, Orochimaru," he taunted, and though he may be old, Hiruzen was the one who had inherited the title of God of Shinobi from the Shodaime.
He was known as the Professor, a man with over a thousand jutsus in his arsenal.
"We will see about that," and Orochimari began to cycle through a long sequence of handseals, which he found somewhat familiar, and only when he was halfway through them, did Hiruzen realise where he had read of them.
"Impossible," he gasped, realising his plan.
"Special Summoning:...." Orochimaru began, and as two sets of seals emerged on the ground, he realised that his fears had been right.
"...Edo Tensei," and it was indeed the Nidaime's technique. A kinjutsu so reviled that only a select few knew of its mere existence.
"Not so fast," but it was already too late as two wooden coffins rose from the summoning circles, only for the lids to fall away to reveal the cracked bodies of the two men who had preceded him.
Men whose very existence had made Konoha a possibility.
"It is still incomplete, but if the rumors are true, even at a quarter of their strength, the two of them will be enough to level the entire village," and it was sick, using the two people who had built this village to ruin it.
"What have you done, Orochimaru?" and with that, the last shred of mercy left him as Hiruzen saw him step up, and put some sort of seals inside the two cracked and darkened bodies.
"Forgive me, Hiruzen," he saw his former teacher's lips move as the Shodaime continued.
"Do not hesitate to end this," and with that, the light in their eyes vanished as the Shodaime made his move.
"Mokuton: Deep Forest Emergence...."
0000
HIKARI HYUGA
His heart was hammering in his chest, and he had never been more relieved to see a person in his life than he had been as he saw the Sanin appear in front of him.
He had known that a time might come when he would have to face S-ranked shinobi, and that he would have to be ready for them. And as talented and powerful as he was, Hikari would be the first to admit that he was not quite ready yet.
He was strong. Stronger than most simple jounins, but the Akatsuki were in a league of their own. The organization did not just recruit S-ranked shinobi; it recruited absolute monsters powerful enough to level entire nations, and even amongst them, few would ever desire to face Sasori of the Red Sand and the Demolition Master Deidara at once.
But there was one monster bigger and badder than the two of them, and he was on their side.
"So, you have heard of me," the Sanin teased, though there was little joy in that voice as he addressed them both, his mere presence filling him up with some hope.
"Of course we have," answered Sasori, and Hikari knew he had to do what he could.
"One of them is Sasori of the Red Sand," he began, as he chose to trust him with what he knew.
"He is a genius puppet master, and it seems like he has turned himself into a puppet of sorts, but the most dangerous thing about him is his use of poisons," he barked out, and the words caught the attention of the two of them, and he saw the red-haired shinobi move as he continued.
"The other one uses monsters molded out of clay that can explode. But it has a weakness..." and the red-haired puppet master had moved quickly, and before he could react, suddenly Hiruko's tail emerged from the ground under him, aimed at his neck, catching him off guard.
"...that they can be stopped using Rait..." and he brought up his blade to block the attack, yet in that moment he noticed his mistake for his sword had been charred away, and the blade simply tore it apart as it came for his neck.
"Hikari!" he heard the scream, yet the pain never came as he saw a shadow blur in front of him.
"Raiton, huh!" and it was another familiar voice, and there stood a man infront of him holding the tail in his hand, stopping it from cutting off his neck. He wore the standard jounin uniform, but he was anything but a regular jounin.
One of his eyes spun with a blood red hue, as the Sharingan spun ominously before the famous Green Beast landed just beside him.
"Your raiton may give you an advantage, Kakashi, but don't think I will lose to you, my rival!" Gai declared wildly as he saw chakra rush to Kakashi Hatake's hand.
CRUSH! CRUSH!
"It seems like you are quite unlucky then, Deidara," and with that, the two of them stepped beside the Sanin, as Kakashi Hatake broke the tail with his bare hands, staring at the two S-ranked nins with his Sharingan.
"Kakashi Hatake," he heard Sasori whisper, as tension hung in the air.
"Hey, kid," and it was the Sanin who spoke as he glanced at him.
"You have done well. Now, go to your team and leave the rest to us," and with that, he nodded and stood up, and a part of him wanted to stay and witness this battle for himself, but he was not at that level yet.
He simply was not, and so with gritted teeth, he jumped away and began to search for his teammates. The entire forest was in pandemonium, and everywhere he looked, he found absolute carnage. It was only about five minutes later that he managed to find them, and as he rushed through the forest his heart stilled as he saw the area littered with broken puppets, and as he came upon the clearing he saw Ino lying there on the ground, huffing while Shikamaru stood there, with one of his arms hanging by his side as a giant shadow covered the area, keeping at bay over a dozen puppets.
"Hah!" he huffed seeing him, and despite his reserves in the blink of an eye, he had cut down all of the puppets and enemy nin as Shikamaru smiled at him, and turned towards Ino.
"I told you, didn't I?" he whispered, barely able to stand still.
"He would come back," and with that, the massive shadow retracted as he fell to the floor, as Hikari felt some relief as he examined his two teammates, and though they were both injured, he saw no life-threatening injury.
He just needed to get them out of there.
But before that, he had another problem to handle.
"Where is Gaara?" and he turned around and saw Temari and Kankuro glaring at him.
"Yes, where is he and what the hell is going on?" he asked, his puppet ready to pounce on him, while the blond brandished her fan.
"I defeated him," he announced as he turned to face them, and the shock on their faces was telling.
"Impossible," Temari gasped.
"No one can defeat Gaara," Kankuro added.
"I did," he announced.
"But the thing is that your entire plan was based on a lie. The Fourth Kazekage should be dead for weeks, and the person pulling the strings in his stead was none other than Orochimaru," and the two of them did not believe him.
"You are lying," the blonde added.
"I am not. Why else would Sunagakure be stupid enough to break an alliance that has lasted for over two decades? Your village has been fooled, and the sooner you two help put a stop to all this nonsense, the more lives you will save," he tore at them and saw the hesitation in their eyes.
"I know that you two are the kazekage's children, and that Gaara is your sibling," and that shook them both.
"Right now, your brother has been captured by two S-ranked nins, one of whom is Sasori of the Red Sand, the man who killed the Sandaime Kazekage," and Kankuro.
"Sasori, he is here?" Kankuro gasped, and as a puppeteer, he would know of him.
"You can waste your time by fighting me here, or you can go and try to save your brother and your village," and with that, he reached for his last storage scroll, and brought out his third and last Katana, and took his stance.
"The choice is yours," he said, and the two of them were hesitant, and about half a minute later, he saw the girl put down her fan, as Kankuro retreated with his puppets.
"Let's go," and they went away, allowing him to take a sigh of relief as he summoned a clone, picked up both his teammates, and began to head for the boundary as he had been instructed.
And as he was taking them away, it was the caw of a crow which made him halt as he slowed down and saw bodies lying on the ground, and as he drew closer to them, he recognised one of them.
"Sasuke...."
0000
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