Chapter 71
TSUNADE SENJU
Initially, Tsunade could not believe her ears. But as she saw the massive wooden statue looming over her and the entire village, and felt that all-too-familiar and comforting chakra, she could not deny the truth anymore. It was really him.
The man who had built this village alongside the villain who now sought to destroy it.
"Grandfather..." she whispered, as she looked ahead and saw two figures standing together on the head of the giant Buddha that had stopped the blue blade of Madara's Susannoo from splitting Konoha apart.
"You have done well, Tsuna," and it was her grandfather's voice indeed, as the man glanced back at her. His irises were black, and his skin had cracks on it, and the man beside him was equally familiar to her.
His white hair contrasted with the black of his brother, and he had been the one who had helped her grandfather build this village.
"Granduncle Tobirama," she gasped as the man nodded back at her.
"Indeed, I never thought that I would become a subject to my own technique," and suddenly a wooden clone emerged from her grandfather's back and walked towards her as the bodies of Minato, Sarutobi-sensei, Jiraiya, and Fugaku appeared in front of her.
"I forbade you from working on this abhorrent technique, Tobirama," her grandfather chided his younger brother, though not before he glanced straight towards Madara.
"But it seems like I was wrong," and Madara Uchiha seemed surprised by the appearance of her grandfather and granduncle.
"Hashirama, is that really you?" Madara asked, as the clone began to heal the injuries of the unit that had faced Madara earlier.
"Indeed, though I could ask you the same thing, Madara?" her grandfather questioned, as the Susanoo pulled back his blade.
"You look as if you have not aged a day at all," her grandfather questioned and Madara smirked.
"I did age," Madara confirmed as he spoke to his old rival.
"I became old and frail, but then I revived myself into my younger self, into a form that surpasses even you for I must serve a great purpose," and her grandfather shook his head.
"Our time is over Madara, you must understand that," her grandfather implored though his words fell on deaf ears.
"The future now lies in the hands of the next generation and it is up to them to make of it what they wish," and the Uchiha clan scion scoffed.
"No! You and I know better, there is nothing in their future except the very pain and grief that you and I have suffered. Only the names have changed, but the tragedies and the future remain the same, wars remain the same, death remains the same," he declared, as Orochimaru appeared beside her.
"Did you do this?" she asked, and her old teammate nodded.
"Yes, your granduncle was quite a genius and developed this technique. A kinjutsu that allows the user to revive dead people, and who better to stop Madara than the men who have done it before," he added, looking towards her grandfather's clone.
"I was quite angry when I first learned that Tobirama was creating such a technique," her grandfather's clone continued as he healed four shinobi simultaneously. She could see their wounds closing and their bruises vanishing with her own eyes, as she marvelled over his iryo-ninjutsu.
"But it seems Tobirama's cautious nature has saved us all once more," the clone continued, as Madara Uchiha made his declaration.
"I will sever the fate of this world. A world of only victors. A world of only Peace. A world of only love," he declared as his chakra roared forth, in a manner it had never before, and she saw his eyes shift.
"I will create such a world!" and the whole clearing became silent at his declaration until her grandfather spoke once more.
"I will not let you interfere in the future, Madara. Our era ended in that lake the day we clashed for the final time. I will not let you wreak carnage upon this world once more because of your selfish desires," and Madara Uchiha laughed.
"And do you really think you can stop me in your current state," he asked, as her grandfather's lips thinned, his hesitation and fear obvious as her heart sank.
"You defeated him once? Why can't you do it again?" she asked, and it was the clone who answered.
"Because Tobirama's technique is still not perfect, and while the Edo Tensei has brought us back, neither of us is at our full strength," and then he pointed towards Madara.
"As for Madara, the chakra I sense from him is quite ominous," her grandfather cautioned as his eyes narrowed.
"I do not know how, but he is even stronger than he was when he faced me years ago," and then Madara Uchiha relocated his shoulder as he brought together his hands.
"Now let me show you the true might of a Uchiha," and suddenly her grandfather's clone gasped in fear.
"No. It cannot be," and a massive wave of chakra rushed off of the Uchiha clan menace, as she saw Minato open his eyes.
"Lord First," he whispered, and her grandfather.
"We need to protect the village. Madara is planning to destroy the entire village with his attack," and just as he was about to stand up, Minato added.
"Wait!" and her grandfather stopped.
"I have a plan," Minato answered as he pushed himself up, making her grandfather frown.
"And who are you?" the clone asked.
"I am the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze...."
"NINPO:.." Madara Uchiha declared as he separated his hands and a black orb emerged in between them, as Minato closed his eyes and a massive sealing formula began to emerge from his feat and spread out wildly.
"....CHIBAKU TENSEI!"
"NINPO: GRAND HIRAISHIN!"
As Madara's black orb crackled to life, Minato's voice rang out, commanding space and time. The last thing Tsunade saw was blinding kanji—and then, silence.
0000
KONAN
The trio of shinobi who had attacked them were all elite ninjas. Their strength put them at S-rank or the peak of A-rank, yet all of that mattered very little in battle, especially if your opponent was none other than Izuna Uchiha.
The Uchiha clan scion had the ability to shift the tides of battle in a single second, and he had proven his effectiveness in the battle against the two S-ranked criminals hired by Gari as he took down one of them in a few seconds using the kinjutsu held in his sharingan, tilting the odds in their favor.
Konan moved with precision. Gari fell to her rhythm, his explosives no match for her calm. Despite his strengths Gari of the Explosion Style was no match for her, and lost the battle just as Izuna and Itachi wrapped up their fight against the two hired S-ranked nin.
"I see," the injured Iwa nin gasped, as he held his broken arm while he bled on the sandy desert surrounding Suna, as the three of them surrounded him on all sides. And despite facing death, the Iwa nin still stood tall, refusing to back down even in the face of death.
"It all makes sense now," he whispered, looking towards Izuna, who raised a brow.
"It was you all along. The one pretending to be the Hokage, but that makes me wonder," and there was a wild smile on the Iwa-nin's face, as he hit upon their secret.
Her breath caught. One slip of the tongue, and the fragile web of deception began to fray
"Just what kind of emergency would force your Hokage to leave Suna in such secrecy and hurry?" With those words, the man had just sealed his fate.
"Why tell the future to a dying man?" began Izuna as he stepped forward, and gone was the slightly jolly and easy-going attitude that he had adopted since the end of the war, and what was left was the Izuna Uchiha she had first met five years ago.
This was the Demon who had slaughtered entire platoons from Kiri and Kumo while still being a child, and his eyes were cold enough that they could freeze anyone.
"Who are you to call me a dying man!" Gari screamed and blurred towards Itachi, believing him to be the weak link in the encirclement. As Konan was about to surround him with papers, Izuna-kun intervened before she had even brought up her hands, as he appeared in front of Gari.
A flash—then silence, as Gari's arms dropped in two crimson arcs as blood flooded the sand, dying it a deep red, as he grabbed the Iwa nin by the neck and raised him in the air.
"You are done, Gari of the Explosion Corps," Izuna-kun declared, as he suffocated the man, pulling the life out of him with his bare hands.
"You die today, and with you the legacy of Iwa's Explsoion Corps ends as well," and the Iwa-nin was dying, and in his last seconds, he coughed as he whispered in a raspy voice.
"Huh! I know your secret now, and no matter how much you try, others will soon know of it as well..." and that was true, and no matter how much they may try, they would not be able to hide the remnants from a battle of this scale.
Iwa, Suna, and the other nations would soon rush to investigate the area and, in doing so, would be able to get an idea about what had transpired here.
"And then you tree huggers will fall! You will fa..." but that was the extent of Izuna-kun's patience. With a cold twist, Izuna ended the man's words—and his life.
THUD.
Gari's body fell to the ground as he turned towards her.
"We need to make sure that no one is able to make sense of what happened here," and she nodded.
"Paper bombs are already set. I will blow up the entire area, as soon as we are away," and though not perfect it would help destroy much of the lingering evidence, while flooding the area with so much carnage and chakra that even the best investigators would need at least a few days to make sense of the distorted chakra remains.
"Goo..." but suddenly, his face shifted as Izuna-kun screamed.
"Get back!" and she jumped back, and in a blink the desert where she had been standing all vanished. Not just that, for Konan felt pain rip through her as one of her feet vanished as well, turning to nothing as she fell to the ground and rolled away.
"AGHHH!" she grunted as she saw the blood spilling from the stump on his leg, and she had lost but a portion of her foot, and she could think of but one jutsu which was capable of this.
Izuna appeared behind her along with Itachi, and thankfully, both of them were fine, and she saw Izuna's eye turn towards her injured eye.
"I am fine," she added, but that was a lie. She was in pain, but if their opponent was indeed the man she suspected, things had just become much worse for them and for Konoha.
"To think that you would be able to sense my attack even after I used my sensei's technique to hide myself," and the voice came from above as all three of them glanced towards the sky and saw a sole figure flying in the sky.
A storm stirred above. Konan's eyes widened as a single silhouette hovered in midair—short, hunched, and impossibly powerful as she felt her worst fear come true.
"It's him," Izuna whispered, and though he may try and hide it, she could tell that he was nervous as well as the small man, descended downwards, and glanced at the remnants of the battle all around him.
She saw his eyes still as he saw the dead body of Gari, before those eyes locked towards them again, as Izuna walked forward, and prepared himself for battle.
"To fool both me and the Kazekage with your clones," and she stilled, realising that the secret was out.
"You are as skilled as the rumors claim you to be, Izuna Uchiha," the floating man complimented. Although they had won against the three S-ranked criminals, Ohnoki, the fence sitter, was an entirely different animal compared to them.
And then there was the fact that they were somewhat exhausted from their previous battle, and even for Izuna, facing the Third Tsuchikage right after he had faced two S-ranked nins was a near impossible task.
"Gari was a fool to attack your retinue, but he was my shinobi." the man declared as he brought together his hands once more, and she felt him mold a maddening amount of chakra.
"But his actions have provided both me and Iwa and opportunity that I must capitalise upon..." and Izuna took a deep breath.
"Itachi, take Konan and get out of here," he whispered, before suddenly the Tsuchikage activated his favoured technique.
"Particle Style..."
"Golden Temple!" Yet before he could do anything, golden sand rose from the desert and enclosed them all, and there was only one shinobi who employed this technique.
And soon enough she watched as the Fourth Kazekage emerged from the desert below, along with four Suna shinobi, including Pakura of the Scorch Style.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Ohnoki," Rasa of the Golden Sand declared, as he looked straight at the Tsuchikage flying in the air.
"You dare stand in my way, Kazekage?" questioned the aged man, but the young Kazekage refused to back down.
"As the host of these exams, I will not allow your vendetta to tarnish Suna's neutrality—or endanger your own shinobi within our gates," and now the odds were no longer in Tsuchikage's favor.
"If you attack Konoha's retinue, you would violate the treaty of Peace, and make your own team still in Sunagakure a legitimate target," and she saw the older man shift, in rage.
"You dare threaten my children!" and the Kazekage did not back away, as the Tsuchikage's particle style dissipated.
"It was Iwa who started this, and it falls upon me to maintain the decorum of these exams. I will not let you and your village make a mockery of this occasion," and so the battle lines were drawn, and the Tsuchikage was clearly frustrated, and scoffed as he addressed Izuna.
"Rejoice, you Uchiha brat, for your life has been spared," and then he turned away, but not before giving a final warning.
"Return to your village—and wait. Konoha's reckoning begins now!"
0000
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