202. Sealed?
202. Sealed?
“Hiruzen? What is going on?” The person from the first coffin asked, confused looking around. First he saw the third hokage followed by the first and second as well making him confused. His body felt weird not to mention he was sure he had died. No matter how much he tried, all he could do was move his head and talk.
“I summoned you from the land of the dead for shits and giggles.” Hearing the voice of a woman behind him he turned his head as much as he could. What he saw was a woman covered in black armor with a deranged grin.
“That and to rub it in the old man’s face the fact that your death was in the end meaningless and in vain. The peace talks failed despite your sacrifice. In the end all they wanted was a pair of byakugan which they failed to get anyway.” Hearing Tomoka’s words the man couldn’t help but sigh.
“I am sorry, Hizashi.” That was all the old third could say. In the end Tomoka was telling the truth. If he had been more decisive if he hadn’t bent the knee then the man wouldn’t have died.
Hizashi wanted to comfort the old third but he couldn’t talk anymore. His body reduced his orders and so all he could was stand there saying nothing. That is when he realized there was another coffin with someone inside next to him. He couldn’t see who was inside due to the fact the person hadn’t walked out just yet.
“Hmm… Looks like someone used the edo tensei on me. Hiruzen, what is going on.” The second person finally spoke as he walked out of the coffin. Though Hiruzen had a hard time when dealing with Hizashi it couldn’t compare to what he was feeling seeing his old friend.
“Surprised old man?” Tomoka said gloating while seeing Hiruzen’s face of astonishment and anger.
“What did you do to him!? It wasn’t enough to bring him from the dead!? You also had to turn him into… this?!” Hiruzen was livid. To think Tomoka would fall so low as to perform such sick experiments on his old friend.
“Oh no, you are wrong, I did nothing to him. He did this to himself. Why do you think he wanted the Uchiha clan dead so badly? He wanted to get their eyes for his little arm. If you don’t believe me, Orochi here is also a witness, after all he was the one to help Danzo in creating the arm.” Hiruzen couldn’t believe what he was hearing, no, he didn’t want to believe it. Even so he turned his head to face Orochimaru fully. The man had a grin as he nodded his head verifying Tomokas words.
“I told you the girl would be our downfall Hiruzen but you never listen!” Danzo, understanding what was going on, couldn't help but berate Hiruzen. He was dead anyway so it doesn’t matter that his secrets have come out.
“You have always been too soft! I should have been Hokage!” After that Tomoka clamped down on her control of the man, she didn’t feel like listening to him rant.
[Tomoka, would you mind letting me fight Hashirama?] Suddenly Tomoka heard Kurama’s voice inside her head. She had half expected him to go into a rage once he saw Hashirama instead he had stayed calm until now.
‘I mean, he is under Orochimaru’s control so it could cause trouble.’ Tomoka wasn’t against it. It’s just that doing so would complicate things, not like it mattered much. She, as always, had plans within plans with a few more backup plans just in case.
“Hey, Orochimaru. The Kyubi wants to fight against Hashirama, would you mind letting him?” Thinking about it, Tomoka decided to just ask first. Who knows, the snake might even agree for one reason or another.
“Is that so… All right, I don’t mind. Just don’t die okay. I still have an interest in you.” As expected the sneko said it while liking his lips making it sound rather bad. Tomoka couldn’t help but wonder if the man did it on purpose, not like it mattered.
[“Alright you fucking zombie I’ve had a bone to pick with you for the longest time.”] Tomoka’s voice distorted, sounding way deeper and gravely. Her pink eyes became darker turning a blood red as the pupil became a slit.
Hashirama didn’t say anything, not like he could, Orochimaru had a firm hold over him. However, Tomoka could almost see him sigh in exasperation at the turn of events. To be fair she would to if she was brought back from the dead to witness and participate in this cluster fuck.
“Donzo, go all out but no Kotoamatsukami, damn that's a mouthful.” If the old man were to use it then this wouldn’t be a fight, Hiruzen would get brainwashed instantly and then it would be game over for him. It wouldn’t be satisfying.
Having said her part she relinquished full control of her body to the fox. The changes that followed were amazing. A really dense chakra cloak in the shape of a nine tailed fox covered Tomoka’s form. Her teeth became sharper and pointier like those of a carnivore while her well manicured nails grew to resemble claws.
As Kurama launched her body forward she couldn’t help but marvel at the feeling. She felt like she had just drunk a full liter of espresso mixed with an energy drink. Not only that but even now nine tails of corrosive chakra was a bit too much for her body. She could manage eight tails but nine would start burning her. Not like it mattered, the damage was low enough for her regeneration to keep it at bay.
The first clash between fox and senju ended with the latter flying away with both arms torn off. However, Kurama didn’t feel like stopping after just that. He knew that the senju would recuperate no matter what kind of damage he dealt, making the man the perfect punching bag.
Meanwhile Hiruzen was having a bad time. The constant barrage of wind and water jutsu from Danzo and Tobirama made it impossible for him to relax even for a second. He was on the defensive having to react constantly to avoid one jutsu or another. To make it worse he couldn’t even hide as Hizashi kept the other two updated on his position.
As a wind jutsu was about to hit he found himself being propelled upwards by the sudden surge of foliage that grew out of nowhere. Taking a moment to assess his new environment Hiruzen saw Tomoka tied up in thick branches some of which had punched holes in her. Any normal human being should die from the amount of wounds he saw on the girl. Instead she was laughing like a maniac.
[“Good, good! I was starting to get bored! It won’t be satisfying if you don’t fight back!”] Shouted Kurama not caring for the wounds his loaned body suffered. He knew that it would take much more than that to kill the girl.
Jubilant Kurama roused his chakra causing the many tails of the cloak to break the branches holding him. As he pulled the many branches out of his body he saw how the wounds healed with a burst of green chakra.
‘Oi! be more gentle with my body!’
[Bah, as if this much would matter to you.]
Ignoring Tomoka, Kurama launched himself once again to fight Hashirama who began controlling the many trees he had created in an attempt to fight him off. It did slow him down as he had to spend some time destroying the many branches and vines that would get in his way. Not like it mattered, he was having the time of his life.
Hiruzen meanwhile took advantage of the events to summon Enma. Seeing the mess he was in he hardened his heart. Tomoka was right, he had made many mistakes in his long life. Now he would correct some of them even if it killed him.
“Enma, I need you to buy me some time.” After saying that the old man performed the necessary hand signs for the clone jutsu, creating a total of five clones. Next he performed a new set of hand signs. He was thankful for his student’s arrogance as the man didn’t interrupt his efforts, instead taking his time to summon the kusanagi blade.
“What is it, old man? Having performance issues?” Orochimaru said while laughing, his laughter turning more and more feminine with each exhale. Hiruzen was Horrified to find the man’s face and voice changing into that of a young woman.
“Surprised? I perfected my jutsu and now I will be young forever, hopping from one old body to a younger one every time I feel age getting to me. You instead will die as a decrepit old man.” Hearing Orochimaru only made Hiruzen’s determination stronger.
“I will be taking you down here and now!” Hiruzen shouted as the preparations for the shinigami seal became complete.
Tomoka for her part couldn’t tear her eyes away from the specter she saw behind Hiruzen. Normally, only the summoner of the shinigami could see it but she could do so as well. She could see Hiruzen’s soul held by the shinigami as the creature pushed his hand into his back.
Her surprise was soon set aside as she saw two of the clones running in her direction. Seeing as there were six including the original it seemed like Hiruzen wanted to seal her as well. Not like she would let him though she did wonder what would the shinigami pull out taking into account she couldn’t properly tell what was up with her own soul.
‘Kurama, be careful the old man wants to seal us using the shinigami seal.’
[Got it]
With her part done she would let Kurama deal with the rest. If everything went wrong she still had faith that her dojutsu could save her. That didn’t mean she wanted to take the risk. Leaving her worries aside she concentrated once again in the battle around her.
To her surprise one of the clones managed to easily catch Danzo. Though from the look of the old eye thief’s expression he is confident that the izanagi will save him. Tomoka wasn’t so sure about that one but she would still like to find out so she controlled Danzo to let himself be sealed.
As the shinigami pulled Danzo’s soul she was able to clearly see it. Danzo’s soul looked normal for the most part until you looked at his arm. His soul there looked estranged, damaged even. It looked like his soul couldn’t adapt to the change in the physical form causing it to deteriorate.
Soon enough Danzo was sealed. As the dust and ash fell from his body the sacrifice could be seen below. It was another Danzo, one younger looking. This made the peanut gallery outside lose their shit. After all, Tomoka used clones of those she brought back as sacrifices.
Danzo being the first to be sealed was soon followed by Tobirama and Hizashi. Meanwhile Kurama tore off the arms of Hashirama just in time for one of the clones to reach him. A moment later Hashirama was sealed as well.
Tomoka had been so mesmerized by the souls she was seeing she didn’t realize Enma had sneaked on her. Kurama who was gloating over his win didn’t have enough time to break free from Enma before he found the hands of the clone on his shoulders as well as the hand of the reaper in his guts.
[Tomoka, this is bad!]
‘I… no, it isn’t?’ After a moment Tomoka answered calmly. Once she felt the reaper holding onto her soul she realized that it wouldn’t be able to to pull it out. No matter how much the reaper tried to pull Tomoka’s soul wouldn’t budge. No, he did move, ever so slowly. After a whole minute the first bit of Tomoka’s soul was pulled out.
‘What the fuck’ Tomoka cursed seeing for the first time her own soul without the interference of her body. Unlike the pure blue she had seen from everyone else’s soul, hers was pitch black. To make matters worse that bit that had been pulled out began changing form. Black tendrils grew from the black mass taking hold of the shinigami’s hand. Then she saw how the tendrils forced open fingers of the shinigami.
Hearing a sudden screech Tomoka looked away from the events in front of herself to see the shinigami looking her way with an utterly wrathful expression. The thing looked like it wanted nothing more than to tear her apart. Looking down again Tomoka saw the black mass that is supposed to be her soul retreating back into her body while the Shinigami’s fingers looked broken.
She had questions, too many questions but right now she wouldn’t get answers. Instead she focused on her surroundings once more. The clone in front of her puffed after the failed attempt at sealing her. Orochi had a good chunk of his soul pulled out of his body. Hiruzen was currently impaled with the Kusanagi sword while another Enma kept it from killing him.
The next moment she saw the reaper looking back in the direction of Orochi and Hiruzen. He was currently taking his knife out of his mouth as Orochi’s soul arms were being held out of his body. Making a last second decision, Tomoka moved.
Using her connection to the speed force at its max, Tomoka vanished from her position reappearing next to hiruzen. Her hand was covered in lightning piercing through the old man’s neck. Just in time too as the reaper was just about to cut Orochi’s soul arms off.
“You owe me one for the save Orochi.” Tomoka commented as she flicked her hand beheading the old third. Without his conduit the shinigami could do nothing more than glare towards Tomoka as he vanished.
Orochimaru didn’t answer as he was still reeling from almost losing his arms. Something told him that should the old man succeed, not even changing bodies would get him his arms back. As much as he hated to admit it, he was glad that the girl interfered when she did.
“We should get out of here.” Orochimaru opted to ignore the girl’s comment instead opting for his next course of action. Destroying Konoha wouldn’t be possible. At least not anymore. The Ichibi had disappeared sometime after the fight started. Jiraiya was currently inside the village and his summons had been sealed. Not like it matters much. His mean objective of killing Hizuren had been accomplished.
“Agreed. So, will you be sending a clone with me or are you coming in person?” Tomoka asked while stretching a bit. Instead of an answer all she got was a puff of smoke. Once it disappeared Orochi had duplicated. The next instant one of the Orochis disappeared followed by his group of misfits known as the sound four.
“Guess that’s that. Follow me”