Chapter 70
TERUMI MEI
The result of the final bout had been quite unexpected. Kimimaro, despite his youth, was one of the most formidable genin she had ever seen. Even amongst his clan, the boy was an anomaly, yet despite all his talent, prowess, and hard work, the white-haired boy had stood no chance against Izuna's brother.
Though perhaps even more surprising than the result itself had been how it had happened, for the last bout had been the shortest of all the nine matches, lasting only a dozen or so seconds.
But the result was here, and Itachi Uchiha had won the match, decimating his opponent and half the arena with one single swing of his sword and he cheers from the arena had barely faded when Terumi Mei found herself face-to-face with the most unexpected of peacemakers
"Will the Lord Hokage not be joining us?" she asked the boy sitting in front of her again, and the Seven Headed Demon shook his head.
"I have been given the power to sign the preliminary agreement. Hokage-sama will step in himself once the daimyo-sama has officially sanctioned the alliance," and that was not out of the norm, even though Terumi had hoped to meet the famous Yellow Flash for himself.
In the end, what could she do?
"Still, I'm surprised you're not staying for the celebration." It had been barely half a day since the exam had ended...and Konoha's retinue was leaving already.
"The celebration is just a party, and honestly, I have spent too much time away from home in the last few years," and indeed that was true.
"Don't tell me the infamous Seven Headed Demon is homesick," she teased as the black haired boy laughed as they sat on the roof of the arena, where the final stage of the tournament had taken place, and even now, one massive fissure tore through the stands and the arena, the ground around it had been charred and the stone had melted, all because of one singular attack.
"And what if I am?" and she was surprised, though perhaps she should not have been given that he was practically still a boy, being even younger than herself by a few years.
"Don't let anyone else hear that," and he laughed as he skimmed over the initial draft of the alliance treaty that the Water daimyo and his office had prepared.
Most of the terms had already been decided months ago when the war had ended, and now they only needed to sign the papers.
"Well, everything seems to be in order," he added as he looked up and pocketed the scroll.
"Good," and they both stood face to face, as he offered her a handshake.
"To peace," and she nodded, praying that this new era for her village would be different than the last.
"To peace," she said as she shook his hand.
"Still, your students must be quite dejected that they could not win even a single blade," and if that was a taunt, she did not like it.
"There is no need to rub salt in their wounds," she cut in a bit angrily, and he raised his hand.
"No. I am not rubbing anything. I am just saying that they must be quite dejected," and of course, they were. Initially, Kirigakure had decided not to send a team for the Chunin exams, but in the end, she was the one who proposed the idea, and the three of them worked hard day and night to make it to the exams, in the hope of achieving their dreams.
"They are," she told him the truth, as he began to rub his chin.
"Then, as our new allies, let me give you a gift," and she frowned as he reached into his pocket and offered her a scroll.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Why don't you see for yourself," and she unfurled it and saw that it was a storage seal, and as she pushed her chakra into the seal, a sword appeared in a puff of smoke, one that was a part of the compliment of seven that were the pride of Kirigakure's strongest unit.
It was a long, broad sword, one whose name spelled fear in the hearts of the opponents. The blade shimmered with memory and bloodshed. Her grip tightened instinctively—not just on a weapon, but on her village's pride.
"Kubikiribōchō," she whispered as she grabbed it by the handle, before she glanced up at Izuna Uchiha.
"This is my gift to you," he began, and that was quite a surprise.
"But why?" They had lost the wager, and the peace terms had already been signed.
"Because Konoha and I believe in our allies, and I have heard that it is good for a shinobi to have connections with a kage," he joked slightly, and she had no doubt that one day he would be sharing that title as well.
He already had the strength and demeanor of one, all he needed was a haori and a hat.
"The seven Ninja Blades are one of Kiri's treasures, and for every year that this alliance holds Konoha will return one blade to Kirigakure, as a sign of goodwill," and that was not in the terms.
"Thank you," she whispered, and he gave her a final nod.
"Well, I will be on my way now. Have a safe trip, Yondaime Mizukage," and with that, he vanished into a herd of crows as Terumi Mei examined the famous blade in her hands.
"Mangetsu is going to be quite excited...."
0000
IZUNA UCHIHA
With the treaty with Kiri signed, it was time for the retinue to head out. And though outwardly the retinue appeared to be composed of fourteen people, the truth was that three of them were his clones.
The wind stirred hot sand around their feet as the retinue raced home—The Sun high, the silence thick. Leaving Suna was easy enough, and though it raised a few concerns, Izuna was able to talk himself out of these matters as they left the desert village and began their journey.
He had tried to reach out to Minato-san, yet had received no answer, much to his growing worries as he led the three teams back home.
"Has there been any response?" Konan asked, and he shook his head as the team ran through the desert.
"Not yet," he answered as he showed her the three-pronged kunai, and he could think of no good reason for it at all.
"What do you think has happened?" he asked, and he had a thousand theories, none of which were good.
"I don't know, but the best thing that we can do right now is get back to Konoha as soon as we can," and so they had to rush back to the village, yet just as they crossed the threshold of Suna's, suddenly he felt a massive attack coming towards them.
"Stop!" he screamed, as he jumped forward and cycled through a set of handseals in an instant.
"Katon: Fireball jutsu!" and his attack tore through the barrage of weapons headed towards them as he landed at the head of the group, as two figures emerged out of the sand.
"I should have expected nothing less from the likes of you," came the whisper, and Izuna recognised the person in an instant.
"Kakuzu, the Zombie," he whispered as he saw those black and green eyes as the man raised a brow.
"Ohh, you recognise me," and he did, though the person beyond him was quite different, they were small and their body was covered by a cloak, and all Izuna could see was a hint of red hair peaking out of the cloak.
"Sasori of the Red Sand," and Konan jumped beside him as the two of them removed their cloaks.
"Well, these are useless now," and soon enough, another person joined them, screaming from behind.
BOOOOM!
"Now your time is finally over, you damned Yellow Flash!" the third person declared and Izuna glanced back, and saw Gari from Iwa flanking them from behind, and now they were encircled by the three of them, as Izuna took out his tanto and began to encircle them.
"You thought you could kill my brethren and get away with it, but your time is over!" Gari declared.
What now?" Konan asked, her voice tight. "Three of them… and we're pinned."
Even if they ran at the fastest speed, Konoha was around half a day's journey from here, and he was not comfortable moving back to Suna.
No. The only available choice was to fight and kill. If he were to engage the three of these enemies, he had to make sure to kill them all.
But he had around nine genin to guard, and while few of them could handle themselves, most of them would not last a minute against these monsters, and with the situation in the village a mystery, Izuna also wanted to rush back as quickly as possible.
"We are going to fight," he declared to Konan, who nodded as he turned towards the genin behind him.
"Itachi," he called out to his brother.
"You will join me and Konan for the fight. Saiko and Anko, we will provide you with an opening, take the rest of the genin and leave, explain the situation to them as well," he ordered. The three of them nodded at once, understanding the severity of the situation, as Izuna's shoulders relaxed as he removed his clones, as the three enemies all gawked in surprise.
"Well, if you are looking for Minato-san, then you're too late. He got too bored by the exams and left early," he joked, as he cracked his neck.
"But don't worry, I can handle you lot on my own," he added as the Sharingan spun in his eyes, as he looked Sasori in the eye and used one of his secret techniques.
The tomoe spun violently in his eyes—until they twisted into a blackened star, and chakra surged toward Sasori as he used the ability of his Mangekyo Sharingan/
"Kill yourself!" he ordered, and immediately his chakra reserves were cut in half, but the red-haired puppeteering master collapsed to the ground, as he blitzed Kakuzu, who was caught by surprise, yet even that was not enough for him to overpower the bastard completely.
"SAIKO! ANKO! GO!" he screamed, for Konan had begun attacking Gari, as he engaged Kakuzu, who had begun using his skin hardening technique to protect himself.
Anko hesitated only a second—just enough for fear to flicker across her face—before grabbing the youngest genin's arm as she led them away, through the opening they had provided.
His taijutsu was refined from years upon years of training, and despite his best efforts, Izuna was unable to find an opening as he tried to decimate the man.
"I really wanted to face off against the only man apart from Hashirama and Madara to get a Flee on Sight order," the former Takigakure shinobi whispered, before he suddenly reached for his hand, and grabbed it, but Izuna was already aware.
"You will make a fine prize in my collection as well," and just as he tried to attack him, Izuna called out.
"Itachi!" and as Kakuzu's hand pierced his body, Itachi jumped behind him as he raised his blade into the air once more, and struck down with all his might.
"Katon:..." and the undead shinobi finally realised his precarious situation as a sealing formula began to spread out from Izuna's clone, halting all his movements.
"Kyositusjin!"
BOOOOOM! BOOOOM!
And a massive fissure tore through the Earth, as Izuna appeared from the ground, as Itachi landed besides him.
"Did we get him?" Itachi asked, and as much as he wished to say yes, he knew that Kakuzu was a monster who had faced off against the first Hokage himself; he would not die so easily.
"Not yet," he answered as he sensed his chakra as Kakuzu stepped out of a dust cloud. Stitches writhed like serpents beneath half-charred skin, muscles roping together where bone had been exposed. Kakuzu's body refused death—again.
"What is that?" Itachi asked, reeling in disgust as Kakuzu's face began to reform, as Izuna pulled up his blade, once again.
"That is a kinjutsu known as Jiongu, the Earth Grudge," he whispered as Kakuzu's voice ran out.
"Ohh! So, you know about it," he began as Izuna prepared himself to fight once again.
"To think that there would be a shinobi in this generation who would know of my secret," and he did, and given that two masks still remained sewn into his chest, Itachi and his combination had destroyed but two of them.
"See those masks, they represent the number of hearts he has," Izuna told Itachi.
"We have destroyed two, and if we are to defeat him, we need to destroy the rest as well," and with that, he gave his brother a nod.
"Let's finish this quickly," and with that, Izuna jumped forward as he cycled through a set of familiar handseals.
"Now that you know my secret, I must kill you by any means." Suddenly he struck the ground, as massive earth spikes began to emerge from below him, as they tried to skewer him, but Izuna ran past them, and as the man's heart opened its mouth to spew a torrent of fire at him, Izuna did the same.
"Katon: Fireball jutsu!" and the fire that erupted from his mouth was the iconic blue flames, and they overpowered his measly fire technique, as Izuna pushed his chakra into his feet as he activated his fuinjutsu.
"Ninpo: Time Prison..." and Kakuzu found himself unable to move his body, as he cut through the fire storm, and appeared in front of him, as he placed a hand on his chest and copied his friend's technique;
"Katon:..." and those dark green orbs began to shake in fear, as Izuna showed his true colors to the bastard.
"Internal Combustion!"
BOOOOOM!
0000
Back in Suna, the Third Tsuchikage came upon his genins and found himself surprised as he learned about the absence of their teacher.
"What do you mean you haven't seen Gari since morning?" he asked, and it was his own granddaughter who answered.
"Yes, sensei left in a hurry, mentioning that he had an errand to run, and we have not seen him since," and though it could be a real errand, in his heart, he knew that it was anything but.
"Go and find out whether the teams from Konoha have left or not at once!"
0000
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