Chapter 58

As Orochimaru observed the snake summons of Ryuichi Cave wreak havoc on the Lightning Army before him, he quickly turned to his right as he noticed a most unwelcome presence enter his sensing range. The disgusting geass placed upon his tongue pulsed and only confirmed his suspicions.

Danzo Shimura appeared from the shadows, and adressed Orochimaru without any respect.

"You've done an adequate job here, but where is the Edo Tensei?

We may never have another chance to test his full might."

Orochimaru replied in a cold and indifferent tone.

"When the snakes tire, I will summon whoever it is that has you so concerned."

Danzo's frown imperceptibly turned downwards.

"Those were not my orders."

And the Root control seal flared in Orochimaru, and a paroxysm of pain shot through his body.

Danzo continued.

"Summon him right now."

Orochimaru felt the full weight of compulsion fall over him, and he knew that he had no other choice.

He made the requisite seals while he gathered his chakra, and using a prisoner he had captured earlier in the battle, performed the jutsu.

The sacrifice was rapidly covered in paper as the body reformed into the avatar of the dead spirit that had just been ripped back into existence from the pure lands.

As the body morphed more details, and the face finished, Orochimaru looked at Danzo with barely hidden incredulity.

"You can't be serious."

Danzo shook his head.

"Oh but I am. Edo Tensei gives the summoned a body that repairs itself, a body that feels no pain, and an unending supply of chakra.

He can become the greatest weapon the Leaf has ever known."

After the monkey summons had been fighting for about an hour at the second battlefield, Monkey King Enma finally called them back, and unsummoned the horde back to Monkey Mountain.

The majority of monkeys had started to tire, and any experience in battle that would be gained from this point onward would garner too many casualties to be worth it.

As the sudden collapse of the fighting, the perimeter of the Lightning Army fell into disarray as every soldier tried to figure out where the enemy had gone.

Over the next several minutes, as the troops were reorganized by their commanders and the lines were reformed, Senju Tobirama was hard at work, using the moment of confusion to put the finishing touches on his battle strategy.

As the creator of the Edo Tensei, Tobirama was one of the most dangerous summons possible, as he knew the ins and outs of the jutsu, and how to use it to its greatest effect.

Tobirama quickly created a dozen shadow clones, and each one activated a separate flying thunder god seal, teleporting themselves to positions that corralled and surrounded the entire army.

The original and each clone then made a few hand seals before casting their jutsu.

Still synchronized across the vast distances required to surround the Lightning Army, the original and clones cried out in a single voice.

"Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags Jutus!"

The original as well as the clones then started to shed explosive tags in the thousands, with the tags dispersing with the wind, landing on and trapping almost every available surface they had to land on, almost instantaneously trapping the whole Lightning Army within a ring shaped minefield.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, after his sensei had trapped the army, now had to execute the difficult part of the strategy.

Using one of the numerous jutsu he had mastered, he cast his voice into the air, yelling so loudly that each and every person could hear it.

"Lightning Warriors! I am the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen!

I have surrounded your forces.

Let us meet and speak with one another.

I have witnessed your strength and wish to parley.

But first, witness my own!"

When Hiruzen finished his quick speech, Tobirama exploded a small fraction of the tags, showing that Hiruzen's words were not empty bluff, and that the army was actually surrounded..

Hiruzen then used two shadow clones to cast a combination jutsu that while not the deadliest, was definitely the showiest.

One clone used Wind Release: Great Breakthrough while the other used Fire Release: Searing Ash Cloud.

As the giant cloud of ash and wind spread over a portion of the army, hundreds of yards in the air, the original cast an immense lightning jutsu to ignite the cloud, which detonated with a thunderous crash, the shockwave flattening trees and knocking over many of the men underneath it.

Those that were within range found themselves dazed and confused, with burst eardrums and ruined senses of balance.

Had they been closer, they would have died, but Hiruzen was trying to get the force to surrender, and a show of force was more effective than a massacre, as a massacre beyond what he had wrought with the shadow clone shuriken might cause revenge to become the primary motivator of their fight.

Over the next fifteen minutes or so, quite a number of unlucky scouts were ordered out into the minefields and promptly died. The reports were quickly passed up the chains of command, collected, and then given to General Kurowa, a man once called the Barbarian King of the North, who had only recently been folded into the Lightning Army.

The Barbarian King stoically and silently received the reports from his vanguard, rearguard, and flanks. As soon as the reports finished though, a thin and weaselly looking man stepped out and began to beseech Kurowa.

"General, as the Lightning Nation appointed envoy and advisor to your forces, I insist that we break through the minefield.

The Daimyo has given us our orders and we must follow them."

Kurowa said nothing in reply, and the man continued.

"If you parley with enemy forces with us still at such massive advantage, it would be treason.

We still retain 90% of our forces, and if we simply go through the minefield at a single point, at most we would be down to 75%.

That is more then enough to lay waste to Konoha and the Capitol."

General Kurowa's deep scowl somehow further deepened.

"You speak of using my men as chaff before the scythe?

To use my brothers as fodder and give their lifeblood to clear a minefield?"

The weaselly Advisor shook his head.

"Nothing of the sort, General.

They would be noble sacrifices in the name of the Daimyo, and they would be remembered as heroes.

This is our chance to strike the final and fatal blow against Fire.

We cannot let anything get in our way, including whimsy or soft-heartedness."

The General, face unmoving, replied.

"Soft-heartedness?"

The advisor, thinking he was on the cusp of convincing the Barbarian King, continued.

"Most definitely. It could only be fear or some other womanly vice that would compromise your iron heart.

We must strike at once."

General Kurowa, already somewhat at odds with the Lightning Daimyo, was quickly running out of patience with the little rat bastard the Daimyo had sent to spy on him and report his actions. Kurowa and his people were only here for political reasons. The Daimyo had sent them an ultimatum, either they fight for him or against him, as the Daimyo could not leave them at his unprotected flank in the upcoming war against Fire. Not particularly eager to bring war to their homeland, Kurowa and his men entered an uneasy and tentative alliance with the Land of Lightning after the Daimyo offered further concessions and trade agreements.

The advisor, using one last tactic to push Kurowa over the edge.

"Furthermore, your forces are here, and your women and children hinge on your success in this battle."

The veiled threat was not missed by Kurowa though.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, imagine what Fire would do if they reached your homelands, and if the Daimyo was particularly displeased and not well inclined to defend against Fire, well...

I'm sure you can imagine."

Kurowa stood up and lumbered over to the advisor before placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You make a convincing argument. The Daimyo is indeed a devious and dangerous man.

At this point, I truly see the error of my ways.

All of this has been a mistake."

The envoy, feeling the hair rise up on the back of his neck, was still holding onto hope that Kurowa was going to act reasonably.

"Then you will break the confinement?"

Kurowa's scowl turned upwards into a cruel and mirthful smile that was somehow more terrifying than his usual look.

"No."

And then he grabbed the envoy's neck, and with a flick of the wrist, snapped it, dropping the crumpled and unmoving body to the ground.

His lieutenants made no motions nor remarks; they didn't even react. They waited for their orders.

And the order came.

Kurowa glanced around at his commanders.

"Purge the snakes and devils. These Lightning dogs speak naught but honeyed poison words.

We parley for ceasefire and break for home. The Daimyo has broken his vows, and we have no reason to be here."

His right hand man stepped forward with a formal barbarian salute, thumping his chest with a closed fist.

"Allow me to coordinate the efforts, sir. I have never liked those Lightning Fellows.

And I tire of the southern lands, too hot for the sons and daughters of Ymir."

Kurowa harrumphed, and sat back down in his granite throne. The stone was cold to the touch, blessed by the frost spirits themselves.

"Bring me the Hokage!"

In a clearing only a few miles distant from where the Armies of Fire and Lightning were clashing, four ninja stood and calmly evaluated each other.

On one side stood Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya of the Sannin; they faced off against the infamous AB duo of Kumogakure.

The air between them was tense and could but cut with a knife, and both Jiraiya and B were uncharacteristically quiet.

Minato and A were closely observing each other, looking and waiting for the slightest of movements. They were both fast, and for either one to keep up with the other, they would have to be at the top of their game.

A broke the silence and called out the the Konoha Sensei-Student Pair.

"Didn't we call you you to come alone, Namikaze?""

Minato laughed it off with his normal fake boyish smile.

"Wouldn't be fair two on one."

A laughed as well.

"I would have fought you alone had you come alone. I meant every word of my challenge.

Now that you've chosen two on two though...

You've already lost. Me and my brother are unbeatable."

Minato's face steeled and his eyes narrowed with focus and determination.

"We'll see about that."

and he reached into his kunai holster and quickly flung several different Flying Thunder God markers all over the battlefield.

As soon as his movements began, Jiraiya started molding his chakra and after 3 hand seals, cast a Fire Release: Great Blaze technique that lit up the space between the 4 shinobi in an enormous fire.

Minato, then quickly fired off a Wind Release: Vacuum blade through the fire. He didn't normally use elemental ninjutsu, but with Jiraiya by his side, the combination jutsus between fire and wind were exceptionally effective.

The wind blade traveled through the fire, dragging and amplifying flames that it sucked in, and it sped forward, splitting the AB duo.

The two Kumo ninja dodged to opposite sides, and shockingly, A found himself facing off against Jiraiya, while B was fighting against Minato.

Minato was an excellent tactician as well as fighter. He and Jiraiya had planned this from the start.

B was the least experienced among them, while Jiraiya was the most experienced.

Jiraiya would be able to leverage that experience against the young Raikage and stall him out, tiring him in a battle of attrition.

While that was going on, Minato would need to take care of the jinchuuriki. Though Jiraiya was also a seal master, Minato was much better at using seals in battle, and both he and Jiraiya agreed that if B released the full power of his bijuu, the fight would become much harder.

Jiraiya molded his chakra and sprayed a few toad oil bullets at the Raikage, who dodged them with ease using his lightning armor enhancements. however, Jiraiya was not aiming for A, but rather for the fire he had already set. The Toad Oil bullets added to the inferno and made the blaze separating the AB duo even more uncrossable, and much longer lasting.

A instantly realizing that Jiraiya was trying to split him up from B, charged at Jiraiya and tried to engage him in taijutsu, but Jiraiya wasn't cooperating.

With a lifetime of dodging blows from the likes of Tsunade and Orochimaru, Jiraiya was more than able to avoid losing his life in a direct confrontation with A, and Jiraiya drew upon his extensive repertoire of Fire and Earth jutsus to help keep the bulky taijutsu specialist at bay.

On the other side of the inferno, Minato and B were dueling each other, with Minato putting so much pressure onto the young jinchuuriki that B was unable to transform into his Tailed Beast Mode.

Minato's fighting style well known. He would teleport to you and then hit you with a rasengan.

That was it, as exceedingly simple as it was deadly.

People that had never fought Minato didn't appreciate how fast instantaneous was.

They might think they know because they had seen someone use a shunshin or two in combat, but they didn't even begin to realize how fast instant was.

B was barely able to doge the assault of the Yellow Flash, having learned in his last confrontation with the man that even the slightest touch was deadly, as Minato was able to put Flying Thunder God markers onto your body with any amount of contact, no matter how slight.

After a few minutes of dodging, B finally mixed it up and decided to throw a blow of his own. He threw a single arm out, and charged at Minato with blindingly fast chakra-enhanced speed.

Minato, confident in his speed and reaction, charged at B with a rasengan, utterly confident he would be able to hit the jinchuuriki before suffering any damage himself.

B yelled out "Double Lariat!"

And that was all the warning that Minato needed to shift to a different marker over ten yards away.

The split second after he teleported, A came flying through the flames at top speed with his arm out wide as well.

The AB duo reunited in a double lariat over an empty space where Minato had been just a moment before. Had Minato been a moment slower, his head would have been separated by the pincering blow of the two immensely powerful shinobi of Kumo.

A, still on fire from charging through the flames started to yell at B as B cast a quick squid ink jutsu to put out the flames.

"What did I tell you about splitting up?!

Always dodge with me! Are we a duo or two singles?"

"We're a duo, kono yarou, baka yarou."

Jiraiya then appeared next to Minato and explained.

"As soon as B called out for a double Lariat, A charged through the flames. I wasn't expecting him to do that, so he caught me by surprise."

Minato nodded grimly, knowing that now that the duo was reunited, the fight would become much, much more difficult.

"I can buy you five minutes, Jiraiya-sensei.

Will that be enough?"

Jiraiya nodded back.

"It'll have to be. I haven't mastered merging with the Sage duo yet, so we only get one shot at this."

Minato then reached out with chakra to once more confirm the presence of his space-time mark on Jiraiya's body.

After confirming that Jiraiya was still marked, Minato threw a kunai at the AB duo and started to engage both of them at the same time.

Jiraiya, by contrast, stood perfectly still with his eyes closed and his hands palms together.

Minato, fighting much more conservatively than before, started to combat with A and B. Minato could instantly tell that he had little hope of defeating them at the same time, and it took all he had to survive while throwing a few attacks of his own. His strikes were light and exploratory, as he never had the time to try to land a devastating blow.

He would be more than able of evading the both of them if he focused solely on that, but he was vulnerable while attacking, and he needed to attack them to occupy them and keep their attention off Jiraiya.

A and B, sensing that something weird was going on, were somewhat hesitant at first, but also sensed that they may be able to finally injure the yellow flash with Jiraiya out of the picture. Knowing that, they redoubled their efforts, and soon Minato was close to overwhelmed, firing off only a blow or two for every ten that he dodged.

It may seem lopsided, but A and B were still two of the deadliest ninja in the world, the fact that Minato was fighting both at the same time was a monument to the young Hokage's skills.

After about two minutes though, Gyuki interrupted B.

"B! I finally realized what Jiraiya is doing! I can feel him amassing nature energy!

You've got to stop him!"

B, not knowing exactly what sage mode was, but trusting Gyuki's judgement, immediately broke off from his fight with Minato and went back to attack Jiraiya, who was still standing still with eyes closed.

A, trusting B's decision making, covered for his younger brother and attacked Minato while positioning himself between Minato and B>

As B approached withing striking distance of Jiraiya, Jiraiya still didn't move or open his eyes.

Minato then teleported to Jiraiya's back, reached out a hand, and teleported the two of them to the other side of the battlefield before teleporting himself back to A and reengaging in that fight.

B missed his lariat, and turned around, rescanning the battlefield and finding Jiraiya's new position.

B charged over there to strike at the man, but the same process occurred once more, with Jiraiya not even flinching, and Minato teleporting him away.

A'S suspicions immediately reared their heads, and he started to ease up his assault.

Minato didn't take advantage of that though, which was a mistake.

In a normal fight, Minato would take the initiative as soon as it was offered, but now he was playing defense. This only confirmed A's suspicions.

He then broke off his fight with Minato, and he too charged at Jiraiya.

Minato, realizing the jig was up, and not confident in his ability to teleport himself and Jiraiya to safety under the noses of two s-rank shinobi, finally pulsed his chakra in a Konoha specific pattern, which was the agreed upon signal between himself and Jiraiya, that Jiraiya would have to stop absorbing natural energy no matter what at that point.

Jiraiya finally opened his eyes as the changes took over his face, with his red eyeliner expanding, his nose growing larger and warty, and his pupils changing to those of a toad.

Minato couldn't help but comment.

"You really should perfect that sooner or later."

Jiraiya cursed at his student.

"Not everyone's a damn prodigy, kid.

Now let's teach these kumo-nin a thing or two about Toads!"

The White Haired Toad Sage then made several hand seals before biting his thumb and slamming both hands on the ground.

In a massive cloud of smoke, the three giant toads of Mount Myoboku appeared.

Gamabunta, with his wakizashi, Gamahiro with his dual swords, and Gamaken, with his shield and polearm.

A, seeing the large toads, yelled at B.

"DO IT B!"

And B focused his chakra for a few seconds before transforming into his perfect jinchuuriki form as the incarnation of the 8 tails.

With the Toads and Jiraiya targeting the 8-tails, and Minato and A providing support to their respective partners, the battle soon escalated to destructive levels the greatest since Madara fought Hashirama at the Valley of the End.

Luckily, the four had chosen a field of battle far enough from allies to prevent any friendly fire. However, from the horizon, the ninja of both Kumo and Konoha could see that massive explosions that populated the fight.

As the fight continued to escalate, the four ninja, even with their immense stamina, began to tire. Minato was the first to feel himself faltering. Not fully healed from his attempted suicide, though he focused on the battle at hand, in the back of his mind, he cursed his foolishness, how his selfishness would lead to the fall of Konoha.

A and B, sensing the lagging Hokage, dug deep into their reserves to keep the pressure up, feeling that the end of the fight was near. Jiraiya, knowing that his sage chakra would soon be depleted, started thinking of ways to escape. He could die here, but Minato couldn't. If Minato could survive just a few more years, he would be unparalleled. Even though the prophecy had changed, Jiraiya still knew in his heart of hearts that Minato would play a big part in the future.

All four of them stopped though when a wave of noxious and pestilent chakra washed over them, freezing them to their spots.

In the direction of the battlefield between Fire and Lightning Armies, a gargantuan tree had appeared, radiating an unnameable and unbearable sensation.

A few moments earlier...

Yama strode through the heat of the battle like a ghost, unseen and untouched. Around him the men of Lightning and Fire slaughtered with abandon.

His eyes were clenched shut and his hand over his ears, but he could still feel what was going on around him.

The lives winking out all around him told him all that he needed.

The feeling of his feet sinking into the blood-soaked ground told him too much.

Hatred knew that it wasn't enough.

Hatred pulled his hands back and said unto Yama

"Listen Yama. This is you."

"KILL A LIGHTNING BASTARD EVEN AS YOU'RE DYING!"

"SEND THESE FIRE DOGS TO THEIR MAKERS! FOR LORD AND LIGHTNING!"

"MOM, DAD! HELP ME! HELP!"

Yama heard the people yelling all over the battlefield, cries of rage, anger, despair, fear, everything.

Somehow he heard it over the clash of steel on steel. Somehow he heard it over the wet squelch of flesh rending.

He also heard the quiet breathless pleas of dying men trampled underfoot.

Men that still wanted to live. Men that were scared. Men that weren't ready to go. Men that prayed.

The gurgles of men drowning in their own blood.

Their lungs were filling up, and each breath came with more effort. They could feel the darkness creeping in.

The death rattles that sung out like cicadas of hot summer nights.

Hatred knew that it wasn't enough.

"Open you eyes, Yama, and behold your might works and despair!"

Yama's eyes fluttered open, and the sight that greeted him was terrible to look at it. It was cruel and desperate.

It wasn't enough to break him though. Yama still resisted the corruption of Hatred.

However, Hatred only needed a single momentary slip, and it had been orchestrating this for weeks. It was working in the shadows and the hearts of men, and it was destiny to reap this moment.

Yama froze as he saw two young boys fighting in the thickest melee, covered in blood, not being able to tell if Mizuki and Iruka were injured themselves, or if they were covered head to toe in the blood of those they had killed.

Yama for a moment didn't know which would be worse. He would soon find out though.

Iruka and Mizuki were faltering, tired beyond all measure. They were superhumans compared to the non-chakra enhanced soldiers around them, but even superhumans had a limit, and the two boys should have hit theirs hours ago.

Mizuki tripped, and Iruka saw it happen.

Iruka shifted his position to cover his friend while Mizuki got back up. Iruka successfully deflected three spear thrusts before he missed the fourth.

A man that Iruka had already inflicted a killing blow on laid dying on the ground with his guts spilling out. With his last breath, the man shoved his spear at the young boy, hoping for revenge, and Iruka, too tired to pay attention to attacks from an unexpected angle, caught the spear tip below his left ribcage.

He stood transfixed for a moment before slumping over.

As Iruka fell, a different Lightning Soldier struck at Mizuki, spearing the boy from the back of the neck through the front of the throat.

Yama couldn't avert his eyes, and within a second, the melee shifted a few feet, and Yama lost the figures of Iruka and Mizuki in the throngs of battle

Hatred could feel his moment coming, and he relinquished control over Yama entirely.

Yama, after being frozen for an indeterminate amount of time, without thinking, shunshined directly to their position, finding the two small bodies bleeding on the ground.

Unconsciously, Yama ejected a massive amount of chakra from each of his 361 tenketsu, forming an impenetrable shell that covered him and the two boys. The bubble of chakra insulated the three of them from the rest of the battle. The nearby soldiers were thrown several yards, creating a massive empty clearing in the middle of the battlefield

Yama grabbed the two boys, flipping them onto their backs, and he rested a hand on each of their chests.

Without thinking, Yama summoned the God Tree into the world, pulling the husk of the Ten-Tails from the seal within him into the real world. The tree appeared behind Yama's back, and Yama didn't notice the thousands crushed beneath its immense base.

As the massive tree appeared in the middle of the battlefield, Yama unconsciously absorbed the life force of the dead and dying soldiers around him and started to funnel it into Iruka and Mizuki.

In the moments that Yama had been frozen after seeing them fall, the two boys had bled profusely.

When Yama started channeling life force into them, they were pale, unbreathing, and their hearts had already stopped beating.

5 seconds turned into 15, and 15 into 30.

30 seconds became two minutes.

and Yama breathed a sigh of relief.

Iruka and Mizuki had regained their color, a healthy and ruddy flush on their faces, they were breathing, and their hearts were beating.

Their bodies had all wounds healed, old and new, and they had never been in better shape.

Yama had saved them, they were still alive. He heaved a giant sigh of relief

Hatred cooed.

"Don't be so content, Why don't you reach out for your other genin?

Can you feel them? I don't think so."

Yama, with mounting worry, expanded his senses and felt for the life force of the operations genin that had come with him to fight for the Daimyo. As his senses spread, with growing horror he could not find a single one.

Iruka and Mizuki had been the last 2 out of a group of 60, and they had almost died here.

Luckily he saved them. Luckily he was in time. At least Yama saved them.

Hatred whispered with a snicker.

"You didn't even save Mizuki and Iruka! Their souls have already passed on to the Pure Lands.

What you have before you are puppets, lifeless husks, the shells which held the animus!

And do you know what happens when you cut the strings of Puppets?"

Hatred launched a devastating assault over Yama's psyche, breaking his concentration for a half second.

As Yama's concentration shattered, the continuous flow of life energy into Iruka's and Mizuki's bodies faltered and ceased.

With the cessation of life energy, their hearts stopped beating, they stopped breathing, and the color faded from their faces.

Yama looked in horror.

Hatred continued.

"They All Fall Down!"

That was the moment that Yama broke.

As he lost control, his chakra destabilized. The impenetrable shell that surrounded him destabilized and exploded, but the explosion came with no noise.

As the wave of the explosion spread around him, it seemed to suck up all sound, causing a deathly still to fall over the battlefield. The wave of the explosion passed through people without even impacting them beyond freezing them in whatever position they were when it passed.

The whole battlefield was quiet, and a gentle breeze kicked up.

As it did, each and every frozen soldier surrounding Yama fell apart.

Their bodies, their weapons, their armor, all of it.

They crumpled into dust and blew away with the wind, leaving not a single trace behind them that they had ever existed.

Yama, kneeling down upon the ground, reached out to Iruka and Mizuki, and tried to cradle them in his arms.

As soon as he touched them, they crumbled in his grip, disappearing like everyone else around him.

Yama didn't even notice Hatred taking over his body.

The soldiers that weren't caught in the chakra explosion looked in terror at the new clearing in the battlefield.

Whatever had just happened had caused people to disintegrate before their very eyes.

Some people who were just beyond the edge fell down as they lost all strength in their legs. Just one step closer and they would have been gone like the people fighting beside them.

Soldiers on both sides, feeling the shift in the air and an inexplicable existential dread creep into the backs of their minds, stopped fighting and simply stared at the epicenter of the explosion.

A vaguely humanoid shaped beast arose from the ground. It looked like the void. no depth, no color, just infinite blackness.

The figure split into three, and two disappeared after sinking into the ground, while the third remained standing where it was, and looked at its hands, apparently in confusion.

The void black homunculus swung one of its arms to the East, and those in the West, South and North, stared uncomprehendingly as the soldiers who had just been there disappeared, leaving nothing but the blood stained ground.