Chapter 48
INO YAMANAKA
The second attack had been nothing but sheer devastation. The Akatsuki was a group comprising perhaps the worst S-ranked criminals ever born, and so it was expected that their leader must be a person far beyond their levels, for he was able to keep all such monsters in line.
So, it was believed that the leader of Akatsuki was well beyond an S-ranked shinobi, yet she had hoped that with the combined might of Tsunade-sama and the Mizukage-sama, they would be able to bring him down.
But she was wrong.
The second attack from him was enough to destroy everything, and Ino was sent flying back as her body tore through trees and rocks, until she hit a rock and felt herself getting crushed by an invisible force as tocks and waves continued to crash into her.
Through squinted gaze, she saw a boulder rushing towards her, threatening to crush her into bits, when she felt a familiar chakra signature appear in front of her, as a familiar whisper tore through the devastation.
"Kaiten!" and the signature technique of the Hyuga clan roared forth, as she felt the pressure pinning her to the rock vanish, and she fell to the ground as Hikari's chakra roared around her, protecting her from all of the devastation of Pain's jutsu.
And finally, as the chakra began to thin out, she found herself staring at Hikari, whose skin had turned back its usual color, as he bled out from his head.
"Hikari..." she called out, as he glanced back at her as he cradled his chest.
"I am fine," he answered, yet his expressions were enough to tell her about his lies.
"ROARRRRR!" and suddenly a massive roar broke them out of their trance as a wave of ancient corrosive chakra tore through the air.
"The Sanbi," and she didn't even need to use her senses to know what had happened as Hikari stepped back.
"I want you to locate the others," he whispered, and she knew that they had no time to waste, and so she did as he had asked, closing her eyes and placing her hand on the floor she pushed her chakra through the ground and began to scour the area for the rest of their allies.
The attack had rid them of the lake, and by now the entire lake had been turned into a crater; the water flooded the surrounding forest, and the force of his attack had pushed them into the forest itself, quite a distance away from the place where the Sanbi had once been.
"Lady Tsunade is that way, and the Mizukage-sama is just a hundred meters South of her," and they were the strongest chakra signals she had felt, and the other two signatures were present yet were barely flickering.
"The other two Kiri-nin are on the other side. But they are both unconscious," she added, and now that she had gotten a good look at him, Hikari himself was injured rather heavily and had run out of the senjutsu chakra that he had gathered.
"We need to get to Lady Tsunade and regroup," Hikari whispered, and she nodded.
"But can you move?" she asked, and he gave a subtle nod as they began to jump through the forest, as Pain fought with the Sanbi at the centre of the crater, and she still could not believe her eyes as she saw him overpower the might Bijuu all by himself as they reached the Lady Tsunade.
"She is right there," and just as they came near her, she punched through a massive boulder and showed herself and wiped away the blood from her mouth.
"Hikari, Ino," she whispered in relief as she saw them.
"Tsunade-sama," she nodded back as they landed beside her, and she saw some relief fill that gaze, yet it was short-lived as those eyes fell on Hikari's form.
"Where is he?" she asked, and Hikari pointed to the crater behind them.
He is facing the Sanbi by himself," and she sensed Lady Mizukage rustle as she began to move towards them.
"Where are the rest?" she asked, looking towards her.
"Lady Mizukage is coming here right now, but the other two Kiri-nin are on the other side and are both unconscious," she added, as Lady Tsunade bit her lip and began to heal Hikari.
"So, they are alive?" Lady Mizkukage's voice cut in as Ino looked up at the woman, who was quite beaten up as well, and nodded.
"Yes, they are both alive," and she saw relief fill those eyes, as another explosion from behind shook the very ground.
"The Sanbi won't last long," she added quickly, making it obvious that they needed to reach a decision about their next plan of action rather quickly.
"We need to decide what we are going to do next at once," she added, hoping to highlight the urgency of the matter.
"We need to retreat," Lady Tsunade added, looking towards the Mizukage, for the implication was obvious.
"She intended on giving up on the Sanbi," and the orange-haired kunoichi frowned.
"I thought this alliance was meant to safeguard our bijuu," the Mizukage countered.
"And we shall, but we are ill-prepared to face a foe such as this. You have seen his powers for yourself. The only reason he has even come here is that we forced his hand through our alliance," Lady Tsunade countered, as she finished healing up Hikari and then moved towards Mizukage-sama.
"We have already taken down two more of the Akatsuki's members," she added, glancing towards Hikari, who was responsible for the feat.
"Forcing a battle right now would be stupid," and she believed it was the first time she had ever seen Hikari speak in favor of a retreat.
"We are all injured, and I have already exhausted one of my trump cards. I have faced the Akatsuki before, and have heard many a rumor about their leader," he added gravely as he met Terumi Mei's gaze.
"If we face him as we are right now, we will all be dead," and his words landed severely, as the woman grit her teeth in frustration, yet in the end, she let sanity prevail as she nodded.
"Then so be it," and with that, Hikari nodded.
"I have already sent my summons to secure your two subordinates. They have reached them, and will retreat with them," and with that, Lady Tsunade added.
"We are closer to the Konoha outpost. We just need to go a mile North, and Ino will be able to get a message back to the village," and she had been sending our regular reports using her clan's special techniques for months.
"We should retreat to that outpost. It will also give me the time to heal your subordinates," she added, and with that, the decision was made, and suddenly the entire ground shook as she saw the Sanbi get pushed into the sky as she felt the Akatsuki leader gather a massive amount of chakra once more.
"We need to go now," Hikari ordered and they began to move, as she heard but a slight whisper.
"Chibaku Tensei," and the world around them began to ripple as the very ground itself began to tear up and rush towards the Sanbi, and attach itself to it. The bijuu roared and thrashed, yet boulders and rocks continued to crash into it and encase it in a prison, and soon enough, only a boulder remained in the skies where the Sanbi had once been.
"We are halfway there," and yet suddenly she felt chakra shift, as a figure emerged infront of them.
"Watch out!" yet Lady Tsunade had been the first to react, as she pushed herself in between the incoming attack and her.
BOOOM! BOOOOM!
"Lady Tsuna..."
"I am fine," she said as she tore through the dust cloud with her arm, as they saw a stranger step out of the shadows, surprising them all.
And all of them, except for Hikari, were taken aback at the sight of him, for this was the very man he had destroyed earlier with his technique. The bald shinobi had pushed itself in between Hikari's technique and the orange-haired shinobi.
"Impossible. I saw you blow this apart," Ino added as she turned towards her Hyuga teammate, who lacked the surprise that was on all their faces.
And he was not the only one, as suddenly she felt four more chakra signatures surround them as four more figures, each having those same purple eyes and metal piercings, appeared out of the forest as they found themselves surrounded by the Akatsuki's leaders.
"What is going on here?" she asked in desperation, hoping for an answer.
"Where do you think you are going?" and she felt a chill run down her spine, as she looked back and found herself staring at the man with the orange hair once more.
"I am not quite done with you just yet...."
"Ino," Hikari's voice was a whisper as he stepped forward and put himself between her and the orange-haired man, and she saw him grit his teeth as the seal on his neck began to spin, while his skin began to turn a shade darker, and his teeth began to grow out.
"I want you to listen closely to what I am about to say...."
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HIKARI HYUGA
In the past two years, Hikari had gotten quite strong. He had mastered a form of partial sage mode and had gained mastery over Katon and Futon like no other shinobi before him.
The Byakugan had expanded his range of options, and he had modified his fighting style to accommodate for that. While previously he had been more of a tank, now he was a master at blitzing his opponents at a near blinding speed using his unique mix of Katon and Futon.
Gathering, compressing, and then later releasing the gathered air in a burst of ignition was an intricate and complex process on its own, yet to do it from each individual tenketsu on your hands and feet would be near impossible for any shinobi yet he had spent two years mastering that very thing.
The entire technique made him a menace to deal with, especially in his sage mode, where the unnatural durability offered by the senjutsu allowed him to push the technique beyond its limits, and with Pain and his paths surrounding him from all sides, he would have to do just that.
He had already used his sage mode once, and the strain the technique took on him was not insignificant. The mere act of pushing beyond his limits and using it again was devastating for his body, yet in the face of Pain, he had no choice.
Without this, he simply stood no chance against him, even with the combined might of him, Lady Tsunade, and Mei Terumi. Pain was simply stronger. All of them were bruised and battered, and the only hope of survival that they had was through reinforcements.
Yet that was easier said than done.
"The three of us will keep him occupied," he whispered to Ino, as he put himself in between her and Yahiko's body.
"In the meantime, you should do your best to hurry back and call for reinforcements from the village," he ordered, as Ino protested.
"But you are injured. I cannot simply leave you alon..."
"Go," Lady Tsunade added as he stepped forward as well.
"Hikari is right," and he saw her make a handseal, as the mark on her forehead began to expand, and their eyes met for a brief second as he began to weave a message to her through his seals, and if the slight narrowing of her eyes was anything go by, she got it one full below.
"Make no mistake, we have no intention of losing here," Lady Mei added as she swung back her hair dramatically and joined them.
"But the simple truth is that with you here, we cannot fight at our maximum strength," and Ino had made much progress in the last two years, yet she was simply not a front-line fighter. Her utility lay in her abilities as a sensor and as a long-range communicator, and while she could hold her own against a jounin.
Facing Pain was an entirely different task.
"Ok," she agreed as Pain's brows came together.
"So, I was right indeed," he whispered as he looked straight at him, and under those purple eyes, Hikari felt himself a small man, for such was the overwhelming might of those eyes.
"You truly have mastered the same technique as Jiraiya-sensei," and Tsunade-sama stilled at those words.
"Sensei?" she gasped, and then her eyes.
"That face, and those eyes. I had a feeling that I had seen them before," and she was pale now.
"I know you. You are that kid, the one that Jiraiya saved in Ame," and Pain nodded.
"Indeed, you were there as well when Jiraiya-sensei saved us from that war. He is a great man, yet his kindness shall be his folly," and with that, he raised a hand.
"For in a world filled with Pain," and Hikari felt him ready his technique once more, as he himself began to gather chakra in his feet.
"Kindness has no place," and his chakra rushed forth just as it had before as it began to unravel the ground infront of them.
"GO!" Terumi Mei ordered Ino as she stepped forward.
"Doton: Mud Wall!" and a giant mud wall rose infront of them, though not before he had vanished, just to appear behind Pain, yet as he had predicted, the purple-eyed genius had predicted his move, and one of his henchmen was already there to face him.
"You cannot defeat me," and Hikari smirked, for the first time since the battle had begun, he had outsmarted the bastard as he used the gathered chakra in his hands, and used it to propel himself once more in an entirely new direction.
"Summoning Jutsu! Katsuyu spread out," and Lady Tsunade's words filled the entire forest with a puff of smoke, as she summoned Lady Katsuyu, setting up the trap as he vanished once more and appeared just behind another one of the Pain's six henchmen. Yet, this time it was the very Path whose job it was to revive and heal his comrades.
"Katon:..." and an orb of fire erupted in his hands, and Lady Katsuyu had spread throughout the forest, forming a sludge-like floor. And all she had to do was to hold him in his place for a second, and she did just that.
Pain realised his intentions, as a slew of rods rushed through the air, hoping to stop him, yet Hikari did not budge as Lady Tsunade put herself in between him and the metallic rods, which tore through her body.
"AGHHH!" she grunted in pain as the force from the attack sent her tumbling, yet she had bought him the time he had needed to avoid the Pain's counter as he pushed the orb of fire into its body.
"...Cruel Sun!"
BOOOOM! BOOOOM!
0000
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