Chapter 37

TSUNADE SENJU

Tsunade Senju watched wide-eyed as a literal meteor appeared above their heads, tearing up the sky and descending with a promise of unimaginable destruction.

“What the hell is that?” she questioned as she glanced towards Shikaku, who had stepped inside as the ANBU lowered the barriers, knowing that the battle had ended.

“It's probably Tsuchikage’s technique,” he said as he looked towards Minato, who was looking up with a  complicated expression.

“Could you teleport it away?” Shikaku questioned as the meteor barreled towards Ame. Given its sheer size, if it hit, it would level a quarter of the village.

Though Minato shook his head as he bit his lip.

“I don’t have the reserves to teleport something as big as this at the moment. I have a marker placed near the village, but even then, I can carry about three, maybe four people with me,” he said as he looked toward her.

And she watched as Jiraiya’s three students rushed towards them as well, worried and anxious, much like the rest of the people.

“What are we to do? If that meteor hits, it will level a major part of the village, and we don’t have enough time to get away from here,” the orange-haired kid spoke up anxiously.

Tsunade glanced around her and saw the dozen or so leaf ANBU and the other Ame-nin and she knew that there was only one choice.

She bit her thumb and began to cycle through a set of hand seals, activating the seal on her forehead once again, flooding her chakra networks with chakra as the very ground cracked beneath her feet.

“There is no other choice. We have to stop that meteor from crashing into the ground! EVERYONE USE YOUR STRONGEST JUTSUS TO DESTROY IT! THOSE PROFICIENT IN EART STYLE BUILD PILLARS TO SLOW ITS DESCENT!” she shouted as she finished making the handseals and stuck her hand into the ground.

“GRAND SUMMONING JUTSU!” and she felt her reserves drop, her mind becoming light-headed for a second as she summoned Katsuyu.

“Tsunade-chan, why have you summoned me?” Katsuyu questioned.

“Katsuyu, we need a healing domain to deal with the eventual damage from the meteor’s crashing!” she said as she turned towards Minato and the rest, knowing that she would not be able to give commands afterward.

“Minato, I want you to teleport along with Shikaku, Fugaku,” and as she glanced towards her other teammate, he intervened.

“There is no need. I shall manage on my own, though let me lend you a hand first,” he added, as he began to cycle through a set of handseals, as several earthen pillars rose out of the ground around him.

“But Lady Tsunade,” Shikaku was about to retort when she cut him off as she turned away from him.

“No arguments! This is an order! If it is, indeed, Ohnoki behind this attack, then as Ame’s allies, we cannot leave them to fend off such an attack without Konoha’s support,” she said resolutely as she began to cycle through another set of handseals, a green shimmer enveloped her as sealing formulae began to expand below her.

“I will not have Konoha abandon one of our allies again!” she said resolutely as she sat down and uttered the name of the technique.

“NINPO: IMMENSE HEALING NETWORK!”

0000

KONAN

Techniques were fired from her side, pillars rose from the ground, and people were shouting and screaming as techniques of every chakra nature were thrown towards the descending meteor.

Her heart shook as she watched members of the Akatsuki throwing everything they could at the massive earth-style technique, yet to no avail.

That thing was not budging.

“NINPO: IMMENSE HEALING NETWORK!” she heard the Lady Hokage shout, and then suddenly her massive summon dissolved into the ground, a slimy liquid spread all around beneath them, and suddenly she felt the fatigue leave her as she felt herself getting rejuvenated as a slug crawled up her leg.

“What are you?” she questioned.

“I am Katusyu, Lady Tusande’s summon. I shall use her chakra to heal all of you and rejuvenate you all, so give everything you have to stop the massive meteor,” said the slug, and she nodded, choosing to ignore it.

“Gods! We have thrown everything we could at it. But it’s not having an effect!” muttered Tatsuhiko, one of the Akatsuki members, as he looked at the sky helplessly.

“DON’T GIVE UP!” Yahiko shouted from the front, his hands clasped I a tiger seal as the very ground beneath him rippled.

“If that thing falls, then it will not just kill us. It will kill thousands of people living in the surrounding area as well. We cannot let that happen! So fight! Fight not just for yourself but for your fellow village folk!” he shouted as he brought down his hand.

“EARTH STYLE: GRAND EARTH MOUNTAIN!” he shouted, and a literal mountain blossomed out of the ground and rose into the sky.

“Believe in yourself and your fellow comrades! We cannot lose hope, especially when our allies from Konoha are here fighting beside us! We shall not shame the spirit of Amegakure!” shouted Nagato as he raised his hand.

“ALMIGHT PUSH!!!!”

She could feel his chakra ripple through air as Nagato’s eyes scrunched up, and the ground beneath his feet cracked up as he shouted

“AHHHH!”

And for the first time, she could feel the metoer’s descent slow.

“IT’S SLOWING DOWN! DON’T GIVE UP!!!!” she shouted as she stepped forward herself.

“NIONPO: GIANT PAPER PILLARS!” she shouted a storm of papers, began to form four massive pillars rising up into the sky as they hit the boulder, which now was close enough to cast its shadow over them all.

She held her hands as she tried to maintain her justu, standing behind Nagato and Yahiko each of whom was screaming as their chakra networks burned in pain, yet the Hokage’s summon kept them going, giving them the strength to go beyond their limitations.

And just as everything seemed to be working and they could see the Meteor halting in its descent, as a glimmer of hope bubbled in her heart, it ended just as quickly as Nagato fell to his knees infront of her.

“KUKH!” he caked up blood, as one of his hands fell down, and the meteor began to descend again, crushing the various Earthen pillars and mountains holding it up.

“NAGATO!” both she and Yahikop screamed, yet they could not look after their friend, for they had bigger worries, especially as the meteor began to descend once again, now inching closer and closer.

Her heart thumped in her chest, and even as several shinobi beside her gave up, and began to pray she didn’t let go.

Using every speck of chakra in her body, she screamed. She raged.

“AHHHHHH!”

Yet it proved unequal to the task as the meteor continued its descent, and just when all hope was lost, and the massive boulder was just above them, the whole ground beneath them rippled.

A massive storm of chakra shook them all, as water began to rise up from the ground, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a silver-haired shinobi stand up, making her eyes widen as she saw the water rush towards him into his open palm.

Their eyes met for a moment, and this time, there was none of that earlier darkness in that gaze, as he turned away from her as water gathered in his arm, the weight of it enough to push him into the ground.

He bled still from his face, and his side and his other arm still hung by his side, as the blur orb in his hand grew and grew, unlike earlier, this time it became nearly as big if not bigger than the blur orb Konoha’s yellow Flash had used.

She saw him step forward slowly, dragging his injured leg, which seemed to buckle under the weight of the technique.

And for some reason, she moved her arm to the side as a slew of papers rushed towards him and attached themselves to his injured leg, allowing him to put some weight on it.

And then she saw him crouch before he lept off the ground with a massive explosion.

BOOOM!

And she was forced to close her eyes as he jumped towards the descending meteor, the massive blue orb in his hand, as he reached the meteor and shouted.

“Suiton: Soku Kozuki!” she heard him shout, yet the orbs didn’t impact the meteor and simply vanished into it, and as her heart nearly gave up, the last semblance of hope gone it happened, as she heard a soft murmur.

“Expand!”

BOOOOOOOOOM!

And then it happened: the massive meteor broke suddenly exploded into a thousand pieces, and she could see that the jutsu had literally blown it apart from the inside.

Various pieces of it began to fall to the ground, but the shinobi were quick to react as they rushed towards the more dangerous pieces.

“STOP THE BIGGER PIECES FROM HITTING THE GROUND!” Yahiko shouted as the Konoha ANBU and Akatsuki members moved to the side, yet her gaze remained focused in the sky above, as the massive volume of water he had gathered fell down in a stormy rain.

And then she saw it. A singular body falling down through the sky amid the rain of the pieces of the meteor, and she jumped off the ground, raising her hand as a small slew of papers rushed underneath him to cushion his fall.

Yet the number of papers left was not enough to hold his weight, and so she jumped beath him and reached for his body, and she could tell that the man had run out of chakra and was barely clinging to life.

She landed on the ground roughly and twisted her ankle.

“AGHH!” she scrunched in pain as she fell down to one knee. Suddenly, her senses screamed at her to run. She looked up and found a massive piece of the meteor heading straight for her.

She didn’t have enough time to hump away, and she couldn’t leave the silver-haired shinobi who had saved them.

In the end, a futon justu raced past her and hit the boulder just as it was about to hit her, and she glanced back and found some of her fellow Akatsuki members rushing to her side.

“We will provide you with cover,” they said as they began to divert the debris heading towards her.

This gave her the time to finally glance down at the person who had saved them, the infamous shinobi who had slain Hanzo himself.

And he was young!

Younger than even her, and now as she held him in her arms, she for the first time, realized that he was probably still in his teens. His body was beaten down, his arm and leg were broken, and he bled from his side.

And he was wincing as if in great pain. Their eyes met, and she stilled as she saw those black irises stare at her. They glinted, unlike previously, and carried little of the edge and ominous presence they had previously.

“Could you heal him?” she said to the summon of the Fifth Hokage on her shoulder and saw that the summon was hesitant.

“But isn’t he the ene…?”

“I don’t believe so,” she replied quickly as she saw the severity of his wounds. The slug slithered towards him and began to glow.

And she saw his pain lessen as he was finally able to mouth a small ‘thank you’ to her and the slug.

“Is it really you, Ohashi-kun? Are you really back?” the slug questioned suddenly.

“I am,” came the muffled answer, and from the way the glow around the slug ballooned, she knew that things had just changed.

And then it happened, she saw his expression shift as he glanced into the sky once again with a worried frown.

“He is still here,” he muttered, and she halted as the implication behind that statement dawned on her.

The Tsuchikage was still here. She glanced around and saw the exhausted faces of their shinobi, of which only a quarter remained. The others had dispersed to protect the surrounding areas.

At this rate, the man could slaughter them.

She saw him, Ohashi, converse with the slug, before he suddenly looked towards her.

“Konan-san,” he called her name, making her glance towards him as dread unsettled her.

“I need you to help me stand straight,” and she frowned before she realized what he was saying.

He was asking her to attach her papers to his body to support his weight.

And as she looked down at his body, she could tell that he was in no state to move. Despite the iryo-ninjutsu, he was barely clinging to life. His reserves were gone, and he was pale from blood loss.

The man, no the boy infront of her, was responsible for a lot of Ame's problems, yet Hanzo was no saint as well. And if her suspicions about his condition were true, then he held little blame for his actions. Doing as he was telling her to would more than likely end up with his death.

Moreover, apart from killing Hanzo, the man had removed all presence of foreign shinobi from their lands. An action which had brought a semblance of stability to their village. Moreover, his chakra simply felt different.

Gone was the earlier darkness and the ominous presence it held. And in its stead, she could feel a warmth, a gentle warmth, like the Sun after a long and rainy day, illuminating the world itself, allowing the flowers to bloom.

“I cannot do that. You will die!” she said, with a shake of her head.

And he gave her a weak smile as he struggled to his feet, pushing himself off the ground, even as the slug protested greatly.

“Maybe,” he said shakily as he stood up, even as the ground beneath had been dyed in blood.

“But this is the least I can do to atone for my actions. So, please, I beg you. Help me!” he said as he stared into her eyes, his gaze unwavering and determined.

And for some reason, her heartbeat rapidly as she saw the reflection of her own golden orbs in those dark irises.

“Ok,” she relented and waved her hand, as a few papers rushed out of arms of her and attached themselves to his body, just as before, even as he winced as his broken legs and arm were straightened up.

“AGHH!” he nearly collapsed to the ground and had to lean on her for support as he huffed, sweat dripping from his face, as he coughed up blood.

“Huhhh! Huhhh!” he took deep breaths before straightening up, and then with a final glance towards her. He closed his eyes before his body began to float up as she raised her arm, levitating him into the sky towards a small silhouette standing above them all, as a small whisper escaped her lips.

‘Be careful’

0000

Read ahead till the end of the arc on my Patreon for only four bucks. So go and have a look.

www.Patreon.com/Drkest

Have a fun day!