NARUTO: LIGHTNING AND ROSES CHAPTER 65 (Patreon)

Chapter 65

TERUMI MEI

BOOM.

Terumi Mei was pushed back as the ground exploded in front of her. She could still hear the echoes of the warning from Konoha’s seal master. But their attacker had been simply too fast.

“AGHHH!” she looked up and found the hunter nin that had reported to her about the attack on her village impaled on what seemed to be a lightning-coated hand.

The hunter nin’s mask broke down, and she saw him spit a mouthful of blood as he stared her straight in the eye.

“Th-the village is u-,” and she felt chakra build up behind him. She tried to rush to save him, but his body was soon split into two as she finally caught a look of the attacker.

Her eyes widened as she recognized the legendary shinobi standing in front of her. A shinobi who had no purpose of being here.

Zabuza, Ao, and Kuroda landed behind her, surprised just like her. The sheer volume of chakra projected by the shinobi rivaled that of a bijuu itself.

“How? He is supposed to be long dead!” Ao said, and she would agree.

The Third Raikage had no purpose in being here. The man had been dead for years now, gone as he faced more than ten thousand shinobi and held the line alone for ten days.

A monster that could perhaps only be rivaled by few in history.

“It’s a reanimated corpse, a kinjutsu that was previously used by the missing-nin Orochimaru to bring back the dead,” said Shikaku Nara as he landed beside her, followed by the rest of the team from Konoha.

“But isn’t that bastard supposedly dead,” snarled Zabuza, and the Nara clan head nodded.

“Yes, but I believe that somehow Akatsuki has gotten a hand on his technique!” and Terumi Mei felt dread rise. Akatsuki, a collection of S-rank shinobi that were headaches on their own.

Now with power like this on their hands.

“You really need to keep your shinobi in line! Damn Konoha and its monsters,” Zabuza grunted, and she could understand the sentiment.

Their enemy’s face had no emotions nor any light in its eyes. She narrowed her eyes as she scanned it from head to toe.

“It’s like a puppet,” she concluded, and Shikaku Nara nodded.

“Yes. Someone is probably controlling it, and I have a pretty good idea of what they hope to achieve,” he finished as he looked towards the huge incapacitated for of the Sanbi.

Terumi’s eyes widened as she realized the whole implication. They were in a fix. More so when she considered the report from the hunter nin, she needed to go back to Kirigakure.

Though, there seemed to be a huge hurdle standing right in front of her. A monumental hurdle.

“Right now, the village is under attack. We need to get back to the village this instant,” said Ao as all of them geared up their chakra, but then someone unexpected spoke up.

“The Third Raikage held back ten thousand shinobi for ten days, plus Kiri is probably under attack by Akatsuki, so that means S-ranked shinobi in the least. We can not just push through this,” said Konoha’s seal master.

“He is right. Plus, with the Sanbi in its current state, we need to be very careful. We cannot be careless for a second,” concluded Konoha’s genius commander.

Terumi gritted her teeth, for they were right. They had been placed in somewhat of a deadlock.

“I might have a plan, it will be highly risky, but I think it could work,” he said, looking towards her. Terumi gave the brown-haired kid a look over. She had read his file. He was the leaf’s latest rising star. A genin who went toe to toe with a bijuu.

She looked towards her team members, and all of them seemed to have faith in her. So, she decided to take a leap of faith. A leap of faith in their newest allies.

“Alright, kid tell me what you need,” she said as they all began to gather chakra to brace themselves for the upcoming battle.

“Time, all I need is time and protection,” he said, and Terumi saw him place his hands together. Well, the kid had been precise enough.

“Haku, you are to guard him,” she commanded the young ice-style user as she saw Zabuza rush forward as he blocked an attack from the Third Raikage.

She pushed the chakra through her coils as she decided to join in.

“Let us see if the legends about you arr true or made up.”

“NINPO: ACIDIC BREATH!”

0000

KITSUCHI-(IWAGAKURE)

“EARTH STYLE: GREAT EARTH WALL!” and he felt his chakra deplete as a number of earth walls covered them up.

BOOOM. BOOOM. BOOM.

Another barrage of bombs hit them, and Kitsuchi felt the whole ground shake. He looked around and saw the destruction all around as people ran to take shelter and move toward the evacuation points.

This was a disaster. A pure disaster.

A shinobi landed by his side, one he had sent on a mission earlier.

“Sir, I have the report about Onoki-sama. It seems that he is being held up by one of Akatsuki’s members, just like Han.” And Kitsuchi frowned as he heard the news.

This meant that this whole attack was planned meticulously. Apart from Onoki-sama, there was no one else who could combat the attacker from the air.

“Who is combating Onoki-sama? Do we have a name?” for a shinobi to last even minutes against Tsuchikage-sama, they must be a shinobi of considerable renown and skill.

“It is a puppet master, Sasori of the Red Sand,” and Kitsuchi recognized the name. It was Suna’s defectee. A prodigy related to the legendary Chiyo.

“So, it seems that we are on our own then,” he concluded, and he scanned his surroundings. Well, it seems no help would be arriving any time soon.

Kitsuchi looked all around at the sheer destruction and devastation and geared himself up. He still remembered the last time he had felt such anger. Two years ago when he faced the monster known as Sanin. He had realized how far behind he had been.

But he had not wallowed during these times. No, so he took a deep breath as he cracked his knuckles.

CRACK. CRACK.

“What are your orders, commander!” asked the shinobi, and Kitsuchi began to gather and mold his chakra. It was time for him to let loose.

“Speed up the evacuation process, and have a missive sent to Roshi to get back to the village,” he commanded as he felt the eyes of the shinobi widen, watching him mold such volume of chakra.

“What are you planning to Kitsuchi-sama?” he questioned him.

Kitsuchi placed his hands on the ground, chakra brimming to be let go.

“Well, if we cannot bring the angels down. We might as well raise the Earth itself,” he replied as he let go of his chakra.

“DOTON: GREAT MOUNTAIN RISING!”

And he felt his reserves deplete as the ground beneath him shook. But then the ground erupted as numerous peaks began to rise up. New mountains began to form. He felt himself rise in the air and approach the clouds.

And finally, after quite some seconds, the ascent stopped. Kitsuchi stood up as he finally got a full look at their attacker.

Clad in the very familiar Akatsuki read and black cloak, with purple hair and wings made of what seemed like paper. She simply stared at him impassively, her eyes looking at him like she was judging him from a place of a higher power, as she was a messenger of God.

An Angel.

Kitsuchi scoffed as he glared at his opponent.

“You have made a big mistake in attacking Iwa because I swear on my heart of stone, the only thing that will leave this village will be your carcass!” he screamed as he brought his hands together.

“DOTON: GREAT EARTH GOLEM!” and he felt the earth shift as it wrapped around him, coalescing as it kept on growing till it reached the form of a colossal golem.

He watched as the face of his opponent showed no reaction as she simply looked up and stared him straight in the eye. Though he felt chakra gather as suddenly her wings began to dissolve and paper slips began to gather around her.

“You are simply paying for your sins. Time has come for God to judge you, and he has decided to send me as his messenger!”

He saw her raise her hand as he felt the huge gathering of chakra.

“NINPO: SENBONZAKURA!”

And he saw the paper slips begin to scatter across the whole sky before suddenly he felt cuts appearing in his Earth golem.

He touched his face and felt it dampened by blood gushing out of a cut on it. He pushed the chakra into his golem as it pulled back and punched the Akatsuki member.

Only for his eyes to widen as he saw her dissolve into thousands of paper slips. She vanished only to appear right behind him as the papers gathered up, and once more, she gained form.

“I told you, you are being judged by a god. Retribution has come!”

“NINPO: SENBONZAKURA KAGEYOSHI!”

0000

YUKI HAKU

Yuki Haku watched with trepidation and anxiety as everyone clashed with the reanimated Third Raikage. The battle had been going on for some time as Mei-sama, Ao-san, and Shikaku-sama from Konoha tried to bring the Third Raikage to heel.

BOOOM.

There was an explosion as the lightning-clad man broke out of a concrete encasing despite being bound by the special shadow-style technique of the Nara clan.

“What a freaking monster!” commented Mei-sama as she landed beside the Nara clan head, who seemed to be struggling to limit the Raikage’s movement, who was still approaching them step by step.

“What the hell is that armor of his?” Ao-san said as he threw two paper bombs straight at the lightning-clad enemy.

BOOM.BOOM.

She waited for the dust to settle down with slight hope that this would have ended it.

“Don’t let your guard down! He is still there!” screamed the jonin from Konoha, and he was proven right as Haku watched him step out of the smoke, struggling due to binds yet unscathed.

A feat that Haku had never seen.

“I had heard rumors about the Great defense of the Third Raikage, but this is just abnormal. How are we to even beat him if we can not even scratch him!” Mei-sama seemed frustrated as she saw the scene in front of him.

If even Mei-sama couldn’t land a scratch, then how would Shinso-kun be able to tackle the man? Haku looked back at the ice dome he had constructed for the boy to isolate and defend him from any attack.

What exactly was he doing there? It had been some time since he had been completely silent. Though, the biggest question was why?

“I won’t be able to limit his movements for long. We need a solution fast!” said the Nara clan head, and Haku saw the binds begin to shake as the Raikage’s Lightning coat got bigger, and lightning began to arch around him as his hair began to rise up.

“AGHHHH!” the man screamed as he took another step.

CRACK. The sheer force rippling the earth beneath his very feet.

“I have tried every wind-style technique I know. The best we can do is wait for your kid to pull through,” said Ao-san as he looked toward the dome.

CRACK. And Haku felt sweat drip from his forehead as the man took another step as Mei-sama began to cycle through a set of familiar handseals.

“NINPO: LAVA FOUNTAIN!” and she began to spit a huge torrent of sizzling lava as it encased their opponent to his very knees.

Mei-sama then changed the handseals, and instead of lava, she began to spew out water which began to cool down and harden the lava from earlier.

“The point is if we can not even scratch him, how does he plan to face him,” she spoke out, giving the Konoha’s jonin commander a stare. Haku understood that she was questioning him about Shinso-kun’s technique.

The man seemed to be hesitant to make a statement but finally spoke up after a moment or so.

“I might have an idea about what he is doing i….” but suddenly stopped speaking.

“AGHHHHHH! HAAAAAAAA!”

BOOM. BOOOOOM.

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

And Haku covered her eyes to block the huge dust storm that had risen up.

“WATCH OUT! HE’S BROKEN OUT OF MY SHADOW BINDINGS!” warned the Konoha team leader.

Haku watched wide-eyed as lightning crackled, and the Third Raikage rushed straight toward Mei-sama.

He could tell that she had been slow to react, and she watched as the Raikage clenched all his fingers except only a single index finger. He felt his chakra sharpen up.

Mei-sama wouldn’t be able to block it!

Though, suddenly, she felt a shadow race past him. A blurry shadow with purple-tinged lightning raceing across it.

TING!

There was the sound of metals clashing.

BOOOOOOOM.

And Haku was assaulted by a whole new wave of pressure. Pressure the likes of which he had never felt. Not even from the bijuu.

He watched as the Third Raikage’s attack was blocked by a sword that clashed against the man’s finger. A black sword with purple-tinged markings on it. Her eyes then finally focused on the shinobi wielding that sword.

Shinso Ken was pushing the Third Raikage back, and Haku saw the changes in him. His chakra felt different, having some kind of omniscience to it. However, the biggest change was on his face.

His face was filled with tattoo-like markings, all of which originated from the rhombus-shaped purple mark on his forehead. His eyes had changed as well.

They were now completely black with a single white iris in the middle.

“Impossible! Could it really be!” said Ao-san as he took a step back, surprise and reverence evident in his tone. She saw the Nara clan head smirk as his body visibly relaxed.

“You damn freak!” he muttered as he gave Shinso-kun a glance.

Suddenly she felt his presence thicken as purple streaks and bolts of lightning began to rush over his body. But what surprised Haku more was how he began to push the Third Raikage back.

Push the man back, against whom previously the rest of them were struggling even to put up a fight.

“You all can rush back to the village,” he began to speak up as he pushed the Raikage back two steps. The ground cracked and broke under the sheer pressure of their clash.

“I will take care of this!” he finished as he formed handseals while holding his sword.

“RAITON: SHIDDEN ISSEN!” (violet electricity flash)

0000

BOOM! Sage mode is here. This finally gets Shinso into the big leagues. A true monster.

He hasn’t perfected it yet. But for this scenario, he knew he needed to come out swinging.

I have tried to showcase the attacks on all of the villages to show the whole viewpoint.