Chapter 87
I know that was nowhere near strong enough to beat Kaguya, but still… A brooding Jin watches as Ayanami and his handiwork slowly die down with a strong sense of satisfaction. …I hope she’s hurting like hell!
“You and auntie were so cool, Father!!” Mileena excitedly bellows with admiration.
As the sun-like explosion finally dissipates in its entirety, he feels a strong pair of hands grab hold of his face, these hands force the Onikage to turn and face his friend, Ayanami. She wears a kind and welcoming smile, but a powerful aura of death and destruction surrounds her; Jin can see the visage of a demon floating ominously behind her. He is able to remain calm as he senses that while the kunoichi’s eyes are on Jin, they are focusing on Mileena, the black biomass that is currently coating his body.
“Sorry, we haven’t been formally introduced, but you’re Mileena, Jin’s creation, correct?” Ayanami asks while maintaining her kind and innocent smile.
With darting eyes and a shaking body, Mileena nervously replies, “Uhh… …Y-Yeah?”
“It’s ‘Big Sis’ to you. Got it?”
“Whatever you say, Big Sis!” The terrified symbiote gives a meek thumbs up before she quickly retreats back into Jin’s body.
The aura of doom vanishes soon after and is quickly replaced by an awkward silence. The reincarnations are left alone, maintaining eye contact as that awkward feeling persistently lingers in the air.
“Can I please have my face back?” Jin queries with a blank expression.
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Kaguya pulls herself out from the crater made by the two anomalous shinobi and their combination jutsu, she winces from the searing pain due to the fact she is covered from head to toe in second-degree burns and one of her horns was blown off. Fortunately, the Progenitor of Chakra’s injuries have already begun to heal.
“Victory is uncertain, mother…” Black Zetsu speaks with concern from Kaguya’s left sleeve “Jin & Ayanami were able to deal this much damage and Naruto & Sasuke are comparable to them.”
Kaguya hovers silently in the air, she gathers her bearings as she waits for her body to finish healing. She hears her ‘son’ speaking to her, but the Mother of Chakra’s focus remains fixed on all those capable of stopping her.
“And the entity that calls itself, ‘Moryo’. His power rivals even yours.” Black Zetsu continues.
Kaguya replies, “To ensure victory, I must first divide them, and then conquer.”
Appearing at the Otsutsuki’s side is a rift in the fabric of space, she puts her hand through the portal and reaches…
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“...to seal away this ‘Kaguya’?” A revived Obito asks who has just been brought up to speed on the current situation.
“That’s right.” Naruto’s shadow clone reaffirms.
All of the non-Six Paths members of the party sit back and watch the pandemonium unfold as many explosions followed by shockwaves go off in the distance. That is all they can do as they wait for a sign to aid their allies from Rito’s crystal platforms.
“Yes. C’mon…” A hyped-up Echo mutters as paces back and forth, keeping his eyes fixed on the battle. “C’mon. Do it.”
Rito gives a few side glances at the time-traveler and remembers that he is a refugee from a doomed timeline. Echo is the only one in the group even remotely happy in their current situation as he is the only one who’s about to get what he wants, revenge; the young genius rolls his eyes and continues to watch the battle as well.
From what I’m seeing, my crystals won’t hold Kaguya or Moryo for even a second… The boy silently broods.
With his arms folded, Rito rapidly taps his foot against the crystalline floor. His inability to help in the fight causes immense frustration to build up as he continues to watch powerful explosions go off.
“*sigh* I feel like a bloody bludger…” Rito quietly mutters to himself.
“RITO, LOOK OUT!!” A shouting Mecha-Naruto warns, gaining everyone’s attention.
“Huh?”
Confused, Rito looks and sees the robotic duplicate running right for him with his hand stretched out, reaching for him. Unbeknownst to the young boy, a portal has opened up right behind him and a pale-skinned hand with sharp, red fingernails comes out, reaching for the boy.
“--HRK??!!!”
Rito lurches as he is yanked back and whisked away; the hand grabbing him pulls with enough force that the young genius nearly chokes on his own shirt. The winded boy is helpless as he is pulled through the portal, Mecha-Naruto is unable to get to him in time.
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“Human scum, just DIE!!” Moryo roars, firing off another Gale Style: Laser Circus.
The hyperactive knucklehead, Naruto Uzumaki, barrel rolls to the left, evading the first beam. He takes off and flies, weaving his way through the numerous lasers toward the demon. However, the beams’ direction alters and chases after the Hero of the Leaf; he can feel the heat coming off the lasers as they chase after him, trying to incinerate him.
“The peace that Jiraiya, Nagato, and all the other shinobi have been wishing for! It’s right in front of our eyes!! We can’t go down until we knock you and Kaguya down!!” Naruto definitely shouts.
The Child of Prophecy forms a Sage Art: Rasenshuriken throws the jutsu at Moryo’s seven heads; the craft demon separates his heads and watches as the attack harmlessly soars past his many necks. Unfortunately, Moryo fell right into Naruto’s trap as the Leaf ninja has lured the demon’s jutsu with Naruto, himself, as the bait. The hero stands at the base of Moryo’s collective necks and watches the beams head for him, he waits and waits and waits. Naruto jumps off Moryo just as the beams are mere inches away from him, leaving the demon to be bombarded by his own jutsu.
“Oof! Uwaaaaah!!”
The hero feels a sense of satisfaction as he watches Moryo be engulfed in the explosion of his own making but doesn’t let it go to his head. As the explosion dies down, he cautiously watches the cloud of smoke, looking for even the slightest sign of movement; for a brief moment, Naruto sees a flickering silhouette.
“You, irritating fool!!” An enraged Moryo roars.
Like a speeding bullet, the demon bursts out of the dust cloud and rockets toward the hero with the intention of tearing Naruto apart piece-by-piece with his colossal mouths.
“You will never defeat me!!”
Naruto makes a mischievous grin. “Heh. Your mistake was underestimating our power.”
“What?” Moryo is confused by his choice of words.
Moryo failed to realize that Naruto was just a diversion until it was too late; one of the demon’s heads looks back to witness Sasuke diving at him from within his Susano’o. The rogue ninja’s ethereal avatar is wielding a sword composed entirely of the Amaterasu flames; the blade shines with an eerie light that emits darkness.
“Flame Control Sword!”
Naruto watches with suspense as Sasuke charges at Moryo who is quick to move his heads out of the way of the sword swing, the Uchiha still manages to cut one of the demon’s heads off as he passes by; there is no blood due to the sheer intensity of the flames and heat of the sword immediately cauterizing the wound as it slices through the flesh.
“AARGHHHHHHHH!!!” Moryo releases a blood curdling scream. “D-DAMMIT! DAMN HUMANS!! AARGGHH!”
The draconic demon flails clumsily, crashing against the cave walls, his severed head falls into the pit of lava.
“All right, Sasuke!” Naruto gives a thumbs up. “Now let’s--Sasuke, behind you!”
Naruto lunges for the one he calls friend, his dominant arm stretched out to grab and pull Sasuke to safety. Unbeknownst to the curse mark user, a portal has opened directly behind him; the hero knows who the portal belongs to from merely sensing its chakra. A dainty, pale-skinned hand comes out of the rift, the hand grabs Sasuke by his left wing and pulls him in.
“Sasuke!” Naruto calls out in concern.
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Alert, Ayanami and Jin hover silently in the air, only the sounds of breathing and the flowing river can be heard. The kunoichi and Onikage grow suspicious as they both sense that the Otsutsuki hasn’t yet moved from where she crashed, they fully well know that she is up to something.
They suddenly sense Kaguya’s chakra appears behind Ayanami, a portal has just opened with a hand careening out of the darkness. Unfortunately, the kunoichi and her friend are unable to react fast enough; the hand swiftly grabs Ayanami firmly by her ponytail.
“OWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!” Ayanami yelps in pain.
The Hyuga feels a sharp, stinging pain radiating down to the roots of her hair as she is hauled away through the rift; it feels as if her scalp itself is about to be torn off her skull.
“No… NONONONO NOOOO!” Jin shrieks.
Pulled through, the last thing Ayanami sees before the portal closes is Jin, chasing after her. She finds herself, landing on her rear, but it doesn’t hurt due to the ground feeling soft, smooth, and warm. As she gets up and dusts herself off, the kunoichi’s eyes widen with shock and awe.
The confused kunoichi looks around and sees that she’s in a blistering desert. Ayanami looks ahead and to her sides, she sees there’s nothing but sand for miles; the horizon is distorted by the heatwaves, the air so dry that the Hyuga assumes this dimension is nearly void of all moisture, there is no flora or fauna to be found. Above Ayanami is a nearly cloudless sky with a bright, yellow sun, beaming a scorching light down upon her; the few clouds that are there are nowhere big or thick enough to provide any amount of shade.
I’d better find a way out of here or I’m gonna be the 1st skeleton to be in this dimension… Ayanami wipes the sweat from her brow.
“HEY, AYANAMI! KAGUYA GOT YOU TOO, HUH?!” A voice yells.
Startled by the voice coming from behind, Ayanami quickly turns around and leaps back, taking a battle stance. The kunoichi pulls out the Sword of the Thunder God and ignites it, the blade beams with its electrical energy. Ayanami brandishes her blade only to immediately calm down when she realizes the voice she heard came from a waving Rito.
The young boy sits comfortably some distance away on a crystalline patio chair with Sasuke standing beside him with his usual cold and stoic expression. Hanging above them is a large structure that vaguely resembles a gazebo, it is made entirely of sand; its appearance is distorted by the intense heatwaves. The sand tent provides plentiful shade for the kidnapped shinobi underneath him.
In the time it takes to blink, the kunoichi has closed the distance, appearing right in front of them. She can immediately feel the difference in temperature when she stands in the gazebo tent’s shadow.
“How long have you two been here?” Ayanami asks while fanning herself, she breathes a sigh of release.
“Not long.” Rito replies.
Sasuke interjects, “There has to be a way out of here. We need to fin–”
“…aaaaaauuuughh!” Someone screams.
He falls over two dozen meters away and crashes into a mound of sand, kicking up a thick cloud of sand. The three ninjas are put on high alert, gearing up for combat as the new arrival possesses powerful, malicious chakra.
“Kaguya, you will be mine!” The new arrival roars in proclamation.
He spreads out his massive wings and flaps them, dispersing the sand cloud. It’s revealed to be Moryo; scar tissue has begun to form over where two of his heads were severed. The demon quickly takes flight and stares down at Ayanami and company with a look of contempt.
“You cretins have gone through impressive lengths to deny me my destiny. It’s quite annoying, really. Be assured… I will never underestimate you again!” Moryo grimaces.
The demon tilts one of his heads back with a bulge forming at the base of that head's neck. The bulge grows larger and traverses its way up the neck to the back of Moryo’s mouth. The tenacious demon gags, spitting out the contents in its mouth, separating into three distinct entities.
The first to land is a giant puppet. The puppet has two faces: the first is a blank white face with three yellow golden mechanical porcelain like irises, two at the bottom and one at the top center in-between its eyes almost reaching to its forehead, completing with an incomplete dark black triangular lining connecting outwards from its porcelain like mechanical eyes, with two thin yellow long horizontal lines connecting to the both sides of its dark red lips, and two thin short vertical lines connecting to the horizontal ones, four tiny bolted connected joints on the side of its face, the second face is very similar to Kankuro’s Salamander except having large jagged white teeth, and having a brown face. The first face has several more extra features with, two long thin yellow-golden lines trying to connect to the third eye, two long thin dark red lines also trying to connect to the third eye as well, two dark curved red-tinted horns on each side of its head, a yellow golden-tinged pot like crown on the top of its head, two yellow-golden dragon-like heads on the side of its head, with their mouths wide open exposing some type of burnt orange-colored curved teeth, and dark gray-hued tongues, having golden white mechanical porcelain eye like irises, a brown-tinged neck guard, an exposed brown-tinted upper body, six long brown-colored arms on each side of its brown-colored ring with a yellow golden-colored outline, the extra one behind has several golden-yellow rods on each side of it and a burnt orange sword with a yellow golden hilt carried by its lower left arm.
The second to touch down is an amalgamation of multiple animals; the beast is very large and has the combined appearances of both a lion and a turtle, serving as its base. Covering its face, is a green mane of fur as well as an orange protective plate with two piercings on the sides. Its body has many distinctive red markings covering its outer shell. It possesses bird-like wings with a very large wingspan which has distinctive markings that combine near the middle, it also has two jet-like pistons near the end of its body. It has two snake-like creatures serving as its tail.
The last to come down is a giant, stone box with a demonic mask-like face on four of its sides; it emits a dark, sinister aura. The frontmost mask comes to life and opens its mouth wide, revealing a dark, spiraling void on the inside. A large pale-brown hand comes out of the void followed by another hand. The two hands pull the rest of the creature’s body out; the beast is large in size, similar to a tailed beast, with large wings. It is headless, with bones protruding from the mouth on its chest and is covered in black feathers. It also has a long thin tail, and its hands and feet are clawed and sickly thin to the point where it looks almost bone-like with skin attached.
“The Master Puppet. A Chimera. And the Satori…” Rito gulps, listing off their new adversaries. “I’m starting to see how Moryo could take on Kaguya.”
Unencumbered by the scorching desert heat, the three monsters glare silently as they all take a step forward and begin lumbering their way over to the three shinobi; tightening his grip on his sword, Sasuke takes on a more serious expression while a shivering Rito coats himself in crystalline armor. With a burning fire in her eyes, Ayanami stands strong between her allies and bumps her fists together.
“Take heart, Rito. You’re not alone in this fight.” Ayanami takes a deep breath before brandishing her sword. “You ready Sasuke?”
The Uchiha reactivates his curse mark and opens his Rinnegan eye. “Yeah.”
The tension in the air, once again, rises dramatically as the six combatants are all poised to strike; from the corner of Ayanami’s eye, she can see Rito bite his thumb to draw blood. Everyone is now dead silent, the only thing that can be heard is heavy breathing and the rustling of the sand beneath them.
“This is the end for you!! Rito! Sasuke! With me!” Ayanami roars, charging ahead.
Sasuke follows close behind. “Hmph.”
“SUMMONING JUTSU!”
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Not again…! GODDAMMIT!! Jin internally anguishes.
Kaguya switched the dimensions right after separating Ayanami, everything is now in a mountainous, frozen tundra. The Onikage finds himself trapped within the cliff of an ice mountain; he would probably be freezing to death if not for his six path sage powers. His fire chakra has just barely melted some of the ice and it is seemingly taking forever for his Truth-Seeker Orbs to carve through the glacier.
Jin’s heart races upon sensing the sudden appearance of powerful chakra, his eyes dart to its location only to witness another portal opening with Kaguya slithering on out. The Mother of Chakra silently glares at Jin, she slowly gets closer while showing the frozen Onikage her hands; sharpened bones grow out of her palms.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! Jin’s sweat is unable to run down his face due to it freezing the instant it exits his pores.