Pre-Chapter A/N: Please do check out the first chapter of the novel I'm working on up on Patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)- it's completely free to access. What can I say except you're welcome? Here we go. Lovely to have you all here, and I hope you enjoy this one. If you do, feel free to head over to Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) and read the next three chapters- I update there on a daily basis so there's always something for you to read.
The seal was nothing special. I almost scoffed on seeing it in full after I cut through Han's armour with my chakra scalpel jutsu. It did the bare minimum— kept the Gobi in and let him access its chakra. A shocking amount of the rest was only possible because of both Han's own willpower and focus, and Kokuo's relative docility.
This seal would have done nothing to hold someone like Kurama. He'd have torn through it like paper and ripped the poor fool they tried sealing him in for the indignity. Well, that was enough insulting the incompetent work. All I had to do was scribble a small unravelling matrix on top of it. An even-numbered one to counteract the odd numbered five element-based seal that held Kokuo. That, combined with Kokuo's desire to leave, meant the second I activated the seal, I had to pop to a marker a kilometer away.
Kokuo announced his first arrival in the human world in a generation with a vengeance. One roar that threatened to knock me off my feet, and enough killing intent to make the air itself hard to breathe. I pitied the others in the forest. If I could feel even that much, then they were probably dropping like flies. His eyes shot out and found mine with ease, even with the distance between us. And the tail shot out, so quickly that I would have needed the hiriashin to escape if it had been an attack. The tail tapped my chest, and I felt a rush of chakra flow into my seal. About what felt like half of one of Kurama's tails worth, so one tail for Kokuo. The tail itself became nearly translucent, and he retreated it gingerly and wrapped it around his face.
"Thank you" I heard his voice in my mind, and he nodded in my direction before disappearing, bounding off to the side with steam wafting off his being. Well, that would be fun to explain. My eyes went to Han's body, or what remained of it, and I shook my head. That was the fate that would cone for most of us in this wretched world, one way or another. I searched out with my senses for the markers I'd placed on the Taki squad and nodded before popping over to Shino.
XXXXXX- UZUME
He fought with unbridled aggression, and little else. There was a brutal sophistication to his attacks, yes, but all that did little to hide the fact that all he did was attack without a care in the world for defence. Of course, nothing she had done so far had managed to pierce that bubbling field of red chakra. She longed to pit her sussano'o against it and show this fool the true meaning of power.
She stayed her hand, though. Thinking of it like a riddle to be solved. She needed something to pierce his chakra armour, and nothing in her arsenal had been able to do so. That just meant she had to come up with something new, and she had inspiration aplenty. He charged through her hosenka no jutsu and tore through the tree she'd left her water clone standing on. Water clones were useful for their low chakra cost and their ability to use some basic ninjutsu with enough skill. Sure, she had over twice as much chakra as she used to, but that was no reason to grow sloppy. Just like Sakumo-sensei always taught them— efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.
Her trap snapped shit with a snap. He jumped into the field and two of clones completed the web of ninja wire. She held the end of the wire in her clenched fist and squeezed before pumping it full of lightning chakra. It hissed, cracked, and zapped its way into being but in no time the Jinchuriki was surrounded by a complete web of crackling electricity that shone even in the daylight of Frost's sparse forests. He turned from side. To side, not completely turned into a beast. He could recognise the trap he was caught in, but just like he had responded to everything she'd tossed in his direction, he went with power. He could make out her position and so jumped right at her. The only problem with that was that the net of wires was thickest around that area, and she had watched every step of his motion with her sharingan and so reacted right in time to enhance the lighting flowing through the web while controlling all the lightning in it to one spot. He struck the wire, breaking through it with ease, but not managing to move any further, caught in the air by the lightning chakra running through his body and electrocuting him all the way through.
She ended the flow when she saw the red chakra surrounding him finally recede. He fell to the ground, smoking like charred meat. She smiled. He was still breathing, jinchuriki were hardy like that. She jumped down from the tree, feeling strangely pleased by the victory. The others had bored her and while this hadn't forced her to go all out with her power, it had still taken a fair amount of wit. The others? Well, they failed to achieve even that much. She walked forward, letting the kunai slip into her fingers, committing to savoring it at first before deciding that was stupid. A shuriken buried itself in his windpipe in a whisper of the wind. He stopped breathing and for a second, she allowed herself to relax.
That was a mistake. The bastard had been playing dead. Red chakra exploded from his body, cloaking him in two tails, and he bore down right on her. She barely had a second to react. Next, his bicep was at her throat, and he was driving her straight into the ground with a scream of "Lariat!" She landed on the ground and the man roared his victory to the heavens. "I got you now, Bitch. Fucking finally" he shouted.
She sighed in irritation and, almost against her will, her Sussano'o forced itself into being. Her mangekyou ability had been activated at the moment right before he struck, so she hadn't felt any pain from the attack as it had failed to do any damage, but she was still irritated at being caught out like that. He tried to jump away from the ribcage forming around her but one of her hands, bony and spectral, moved to catch him in midair. She squeezed mentally and took great pleasure at watching the spectral hand squeeze with more force than she was physically capable of, thou=roughly restraining the jinchuriki. Her other hand formed itself with a sword in its grip, and she brought both hands together with an application of her will. Enji was delivered right to the blade even as he tried to struggle with his enhanced strength and power. It was too little and too late. The sword stabbed straight through him, tearing him into two halves and leaving ruin in its wake.
The purple specter of her will flickered in the light, disappearing now that it had done its duty and leaving her there panting. The Sussaano'o had this weight it created around its bod that she was struggling to get used to. It was only her second time summoning it, and it still felt like it had taken a good chunk out of her. Not as baad as the first time, but still meaningful. She straightened up with an application of her willpower and dusted herself off, giving the body one last look and then taking a look around the clearing that their battle had taken them to. Most people had the good sense to stay away from rampaging jinchuriki and since Uzume had been more than happy to lead the Two Tails away, they were some distance from the rest of the battlefield.
She took a breath and body flickered twice until she was only a few metres from where Uraume and a kunoichi with two blades clashed. Uraume was a perfect representation of the Hyuga taijutsu that Shori so easily bastardised and modified to suit his ends. Her opponent, as well, was a perfect representation of the Hidden Clouds half moon kenjutsu style. It was a fight between Konoha's best taijutsu, and Kumo's best kenjutsu, and Uraume was losing. Sure, she was doing well, but it was clear to see that she had no real chance of touching her opponent. Byakugan or not, it mattered little what one tap could do when your opponent never let you get that close. The woman she fought had a prodigal understanding of space and the quirks of it, moving to ensure that Uraume never got close enough to make those fingers of hers execute their deadly purpose.
She skirted two steps backwards just as Uraume took two forward, blonde hair flying through the air wild and untamed in contrast to the clear discipline she maintained in her fighting. The blade arced out in a slash that was never aimed at causing damage but deterred Uraume from taking the third step that would have brought her in range.
Uzume's observation of the fight was briefly interrupted as the man that had previously been content to watch her sprang what he must have felt was an impressive ambush.
She actually allowed the genjutsu to ensnare her for a second and looked towards the left where an illusory version of the man was rushing at her with a blade raised. He came from the right instead. And he didn't come alone. He had a clone by his side. A shifting of her eyes told her it was a lightning clone from the chakra nature she could see making it up as they stepped up to her as one. She feigned being caught in the illusion until the very last moment. She stepped backwards to dodge and illusory swipe of a blade and as her back foot touched the ground she formed half a seal.
Two spikes rose from the ground immediately. One popped the lightning clone, sending the electricity flowing into the ground harmlessly, while the second impaled the man on the foot. He had been too sure of having her trapped. He gasped in pain, avoiding a scream as she turned around to face him. Without struggle, his eyes met hers, and they were gone.
"Welcome to the world of torment" Her genjutsu self announced.
She watched dispassionately as the man began to scream in front of her, being slowly driven insane by the tortures she was putting him through. It was a slow victory, as time passed just the same in genjutsu as it did in the real world— messing with one's perception of time in a genjutsu was nearly impossible and even if she was good enough to do it, it would have cost too much in concentration for her to focus on it while fighting as she was now.
The man's failed attack had drawn more attention to her position, and so she was left cutting down Kumo shinobi one after the other. When she finally used a genjutsu to distract one while stepping behind him and cleanly breaking his neck with one strike and ended the rushing tide, she returned her concentration to Uraume's fight.
Shorirama's cousin wasn't losing anymore. She'd lost. Good, that meant Uzume could step in now. She body flickered between them and placed her gunbai in the path of the sword that had been about to decapitate a kneeling Uraume. The Hyuga had two cuts down her legs and one deeper gash along her fingers that bled worryingly. Missing those fingers would be death for a gentle fist user with little ninjutsu or genjutsu talent to speak of.
"I will be your opponent now" She said with a smirk on her face that must have been familiar for the twinge that appeared on the woman's face.
"Then die" Was all she said in reply before moving at what must have been a blur to most others. Uzume simply stepped into her guard neatly with some deft footwork and tapped her once on the wrist with her chakra acting as a knife in an inelegant facsimile of the gentle fist. She dropped her sword, unable to keep a hold of it with a paralyzed hand and then Uzume tapped her on the chest next.
"I was just about to say the same" She said as the girl fell backwards, dead.
"Wh-what?" Uraume's voice sounded out behind her.
XXXXXX- SHORIRAMA SENJU
"So what''s the damage?" I asked a visibly limping Shino. With my byakugan, I could see the full extent of his wounds, but did not offer to heal them. The alliance between Konoha and Taki was far from the thing it was in canon where Naruto ands team had been allowed into their village. Even after beating two jinchuriki for them, they were far from giving me that honour.
"We lost seven of ours in the chase. Only one of yours though" He said, giving me a half glare at those words. One of the women that had met us by his side was one of the dead. A lover?
"A complete victory then" I surmised.. Because that was the truth. Two jinchuriki were enough to end the vast majority of Taki's forces, legendary hero water or not.
He took a deep breath before looking to the side for a second.
"Yes, a complete victory."
"Then I'll be expecting some payment for my services."
"What? We had a deal with your Kage".
"Hiruzen can do as he wishes. I killed a jinchuriki for you, and you tried to assassinate my grandfather in the past.. Think of it as reparations if you refuse to think of it as a reward. "
"What could you possibly even want from us? We don't have much money".
"Money is for those with less imagination than I. I want the only thing of value your village produces. A flask of your hero water".
"That's ridic-"
"Give me what I need, and I won't tell the hokage what you have done with the Nanabi who once roamed this forest" I said, making an educated guess. The way he paled gave me the proof I wanted almost instantly. Kurama had been able to feel imprints of Chomei's chakra, especially after we freed Kokuo and he left. The only possible explanation was that he was once here. And since I knew Grandfather had never captured the Seven Tails and Taki somehow had a Jinchuriki of their own by the time canon rolled around.
"Taki has just as much right to do what the rest of the villages do. Don't think for a second that I don't know what you are, Shorirama Senju" He'd found some backbone, it seemed. It would almost have been amusing if he didn't find it against me of all people.
Kurama?
Gladly.
I pulled some of his chakra into my stream. Not much. Just enough to change the color of my eyes as I deactivated my byakugan. I could see the way his demeanor changed. I could see my red irises reflected in his black orbs for a second before his eyes flicked away, unable to maintain eye contact.
"Say that again, boy" I said in a voice so deep that it might as well have been an unintelligible growl. It did get the job done, though. Shino could intuit the message well enough.
"I have made my demands. Will you comply or not?" I asked, staring him down. He could say no right here and now, and it wasn't like there was nothing I could do about it. But I could see the gears turning in his head, and there was no doubt that he was having flashbacks to what I had done to the Iwa unit without even touching a drop of Kurama's power. Dead before he could even regret pissing me off.
"Fine. A single flask of our hero water will be yours. As the hero of Taki, you deserve to use it." I scoffed at the glint could see in his eyes. What a cool. If I knew about the hero water's existence, then what was his guarantee that I didn't know about its one drawback.
"I'll be sure to," I said with feigned excitement. There was a pep to his step as he recovered the bottle of useful poison.
When he returned with the bottle, I smiled and examined the bottle for a second. I opened it, took a sniff, and then I activated my byakugan. My eyes meant I could see the operations of chakra down to the atomic level when I wanted to. Most of the time I never bothered trying to see in so much detail because it was a hindrance more than anything else when I was fighting. But now, I wanted to see in detail and that is what I got.
The hero water was senjutsu-based. That wasn't a revolutionary discovery. Taki had their whole ancient giant tree thing going on that just screamed nature energy in large amounts. The water was something like that. It was enriched in nature energy down to the very last molecule. So that was what happened when one drank the hero's water. Forcible injection of senjutsu chakra into the boy to trigger a lower tier of sage mode— that''s where the tenfold chakra increase came in. More of a multiplier than most forms of Sage mode, but I called it a lower tier because it didn't give the other benefits of Sage mode as far as I knew. And then there was the drawback. A shorter lifespan. Probably some effect of the body not being able to balance the influx of nature energy perfectly and wearing itself out from that. So if I was right, then there was nothing but upside for me.
I took another look, cataloguing what I could see and becoming even more certain that I was right.
"Shorirama" Kurama growled a warning in my head. Too late.
I met Shino's eyes, swung the flask towards my face and gulped every drop.
A/N: Did you for a second think our favourite mad man had gotten any less impulsive? As always, the next three chapters are up on Patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga). If you just want to read complete chapters and not my work in real-time, then feel free to purchase this story as a collection on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) page so you get to read each chapter after I finish it and not necessarily the daily updates available with a regular patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) membership- nice way to support this story and me while you're at it. Enjoy!