Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Kakumei – Arc 1: The Consumer of Worlds

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Chapter 41 - Battle in the gods' garden

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In the Hokage's living room, Sasuke, Sakura and four of the Kages are gathered around the table. Hinata stands with her two kids aside and listens as Sasuke explains how they'll rescue her husband. Izuna, sitting on his mother's lap with his little sister, does the same.

Sasuke pulls out a scroll that he opens and lays on the table for everyone to see. It contains a map of Shin no Kuni, the lands that Momoshiki annexed. He points at the east part of the map.

"The Otsutsuki brought Naruto here." he says. "They planted 5 sort of God trees in this area. I don't know what they are for exactly, so just for safety, we should eliminate them."

"5 God trees like the one from the war?" asks Gaara. "That sure is another level of threat than Madara."

"So what is the plan?" asks Kurotsuchi.

Sasuke looks at all the Kages and his wife. He then opens the scroll a bit more to show them drawings of Momoshiki and Kinshiki.

"The main objective is to save Naruto." he says. "So that's what we'll do first. Sakura, we'll leave him to you for healing. Then, we won't retreat until the two enemies are dead."

"And how are we supposed to fight them?" asks Darui.

"I'll take care of Momoshiki." answers the Uchiha as he lays his finger on the sketch representing his enemy. "You 4 Kages shall keep the big one busy until Naruto gets up."

"Are you sure you can handle him alone?" asks Sakura.

"I will… Kages, your adversary is Kinshiki Otsutsuki. Like every other member of his clan, he can levitate and is too durable for simple blades and kunai. He's strong and fast enough to end you in a flash. He also has a pair of Byakugan and can absorb all Ninjutsu. If any of you has Senjutsu, trying it wouldn't be a bad idea, even though I'm not sure it would work either. You should just focus on restricting his movements for as long as you can."

"I've already fought them too." says Mei Terumi. "We should try to keep a good distance with him. They can also use multiple chakra natures without any hand signs."

"That's a lot of skills for a single individual." says the Tsuchikage. "Are you saying that we have to face a threat that rivals those that took the whole alliance?"

"That's bad…" says the Raikage. "What about their sensitive capacities? How will we get to the area without being immediately detected? And how are we supposed to take down the god trees?"

"I already prepared for all this." answers the Uchiha. "All you got to do is wait until I drop you on the field and keep your opponent busy. Sakura, you'll get Naruto and heal him as soon as possible. The rest is up to me."

Izuna looks up at his father, who's confidently explaining his rescue plan. He listens and wonders, how this hobo looking wanderer is supposed to save the Hokage from those who defeated him?

Sasuke looks around the table to see all the Kage processing the plan and their part of it. As he reminds himself of what he has to do, he swallows his saliva. It will be the third time he fights against Momoshiki. This time, he'll be the one surprising his enemy who won't be able to run away again. This battle has to end with one of them down for good.

Starting to question his ability to follow his own plan, he feels Sakura laying her hands on his shoulders. Having noticed his quiet doubts, she reassures him and makes sure her husband knows that everyone one in this room trusts him with this.

Sasuke looks at her and eases himself. He then gazes at everyone with a confident face, and finally at Hinata, Boruto and Himawari, worriedly standing behind the Kages. He gently nods his head to them as to express his determination.

"We shouldn't waste any time. Let's go." he says to those who'll go with him.

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In the land of Gods, 5 colossal flowers cover the large area that the Otsutsuki prepared weeks ago. In there, Momoshiki stands, levitating, in front of the holy garden. Naruto Uzumaki is still passed out, floating in front of him. Using his mind and control over the trees he collected during his long millenium of travels, he makes 5 tentacle branches rise up. The tip of each branch, each belonging to a different tree, come to stab through the fainted Hokage and start to absorb his chakra.

"Now, we only have to protect this garden until it's done with all the chakra of this world." says Momoshiki.

"We should go get the hosts, to keep them safe from the trees' harvest." suggests Kinshiki.

"We will, but after the trees are revived by the fox's chakra." he answers. "This might take a few minutes."

As the trees are feeding themselves on the incredible chakra that this body contains, the gardener watches, quiet, and thinks. Kinshiki, levitating by his sides, sees his hesitating face.

"You are in doubt." he says. "What could it be?"

Momoshiki doesn't answer and stays silent while staring, perplex, at the active garden.

"You're unsure of the power you'll get." adds Kinshiki who sees through Momoshiki's thoughts. "You don't know if it'll be enough."

Momoshiki sighs, and breaks his silence.

"All this power greatly surpasses what Kaguya acquired with the divine fruit." he says. "Added to all the chakra I already have, I'll definitely become the closest living being to God… But…"

"But will it be enough to face him? The dragon sage?" completes Kinshiki.

"Quit calling him like that!" angrily answers Momoshiki. "We've been through the universe all these years, destroyed every single piece of Shinju and gathered its power, all this only to find a way to alter the fate I foresee… To escape the end coming for us. Despite all that we've accomplished until now, it hasn't changed at all. I am certain that this death will be from the hands of Yamitsuki or Isshiki. It couldn't be anybody else. With the power of Earth, I know I'll surpass the prince and won't get my ass beaten like the last time, but Yamitsuki… Even with that, opposing him could only result in feeding his unlimited knowledge and wisdom."

"Momoshiki, …" answers Kinshiki. "If this power still isn't enough for you to change your fate, then I'll give my life to offer you the needed power."

"I said I'll kill them all… I won't go back on my words. All those who rejected me, despised me until I, myself, freed them from the former empire. Those ungrateful idiots all deserve to die."

"I don't have long to live anyway." answers Kinshiki. "My kalpa is nearly done. My years are counted, but not yours. If this power and my power still isn't enough, you should aim for my sister's chakra. We already used a piece of her power to secure your host, so you know how useful it is."

"Whatever, the only power that serves against Yamitsuki is Shinju's Rikudo Shinsenjutsu." responds Momoshiki. "If this world's power isn't enough, nothing will be…"

"Facing such a being doesn't take Power." explains Kinshiki, giving a fatherly advice. "It takes preparation, and will. This, he knows very well himself. He doesn't expect anyone to surpass his power. Just to have to sheer will to overcome him."

Momoshiki stays quiet and listens to Kinshiki's words. As the two Otsutsuki discuss their ambitions, doubts and plans, they are suddenly interrupted by an odd sensation. Momoshiki looks around, and above in the sky, he sees a rain of meteors fall from the high atmosphere to his garden.

"Resistance. That was expected." says Kinshiki.

"Oh No! You're not doing this!" yells Momoshiki, having guessed whose making this is, before flying toward the falling meteors.

Raiton

He throws multiple giant lightning bolts from his hands, that hit and completely shatter the ten meteors falling to him. Distracted by these asteroids, he doesn't notice immediately the Perfect Susanoo fly in the garden and pull out its blade.

"It's the Uchiha!" shouts Kinshiki who creates a sword in his hands and flies to the giant chakra body.

Sasuke, in the armor with Sakura, Katsuyu and the Kages, dives to the line of trees and draws the Susanoo's sword. With a simple but extremely powerful sword dash, he slices through the air and cuts down all 5 of the divine trees at once. The now dead plants lose all strength and let go off the Hokage who's chakra was still being consumed.

Kinshiki takes cover behind his ethereal blade to avoid the damages of this dash. Momoshiki, after having destroyed every meteor, looks down to see his ruined garden and the Susanoo flying through. Frustrated, he sees his first thought confirmed when he recognizes Sasuke's jutsu. Kinshiki flies to the Susanoo and readies to confront his weapons with its.

Ameno Tejikara

Sasuke teleports away from his Susanoo and appears just behind Momoshiki who's standing far above in the air.

Chidori

With a lightning blade, he strikes him down to the ground. Since the user left the armor, the Susanoo fades away and leaves everybody else who was in to fall out, all sitting on a giant slug's back. Kinshiki raises his sword toward Katsuyu.

Ameno Habaya – Odachinagi

He cuts the giant summoning in half, but it simply separates the creature into hundreds of smaller slugs. As all these animals rain on him, Kinshiki is surprised by a stone golem that comes falling among the slugs and tries to hit him. Too slow for him, he catches on the golem's fist with his hand and slice him in half by throwing his sword down. From behind the golem, he now sees a human leap forward to him with a big sword in his hands. With his hands down, he's unable to counter and gets hit by the Raikage's blade that pushes him to the ground.

Still in the air, Sakura jumps to Naruto who's falling down and catches him. She lands on a sand platform made by the Kazekage and safely gets to the ground where many slugs fuse back together to become Katsuyu again.

Kinshiki crashes on the sliced root of one of the trees and stands up, now surrounded by 3 of the Kages, that are quickly joined by Gaara who stays floating above the enemy.

Momoshiki immobilizes himself in the air after Sasuke struck him down and looks up to see the Uchiha strike him again to push him to the ground. Sasuke lands on another of the sliced roots, and the Otsutsuki manages to stop his fall again, in the air, not far from the root. He looks at the serious face of his opponent.

"Wasn't our first encounter enough for you to understand that you don't stand a chance, Uchiha?" he asks.

"It was just enough for me to get why I need to kill you." answers Sasuke.

"Oh! You're here to avenge your other Uchiha friend, is it?" questions Momoshiki, mockingly.

The wanderer doesn't answer. The two Rinnegan users just gaze at each other hostilely, before Momoshiki gets a bit higher. On another root, Kinshiki looks around to see Darui, Kurotsuchi, Gaara and Mei around him. He recognizes the Mizukage, but not any of the others. Gaara, still floating above on a sand platform, looks over to see Sakura and Katsuyu working to heal and wake up Naruto. All of them, the Kages, Sasuke, Sakura and Kinshiki, look up to Momoshiki who stands above in the sky and starts to address everyone.

"There is no point in resisting. After the fox, you'll all die anyway." he starts his tirade. "Let me tell you what is: You are not worthy of the power I'll take from you…"

"Kaguya's mistakes in this world only revealed my kind's absolute superiority. Even when our power is given to another species, it is, as a whole, nothing even compared to just a single individual celestial like me. You dumb life forms wasted 7/8 of yours against the weakest incarnation of the Juubi I could imagine, and in reaction, your entire world started to consider what you fought as the progenitor of all chakra and creation…"

"Didn't it occur to your weak minds a single second, that maybe your species is simply miserable? You weaponized chakra and use it solely for war and conflict, but are still unable to rival us who use it as a life enhancing force. You're so ridiculous that Kaguya, the most miserable of our clan, was preached and honored by you like an almighty god…"

"This proves that even if other beings in the universe had our power like you do, we, the Otsutsuki, would still remain the only gods in the multiverse. Since you're so bad at using this energy, you should let me get rid of it for you. I'll definitely make a better use of this chakra than you'll ever do."

None of the kage and ninjas present answer. They stay silent, intrigued by the implications of this monologue. Most of them weren't aware of the enemy's intentions at all until now, and to know these only reinforce their will to fight for their world. To them, it's like an unplanned new 4th war.

"You're not a god." says Sasuke, as a lightning sword appears on his hand. "It seems like you really look down on who Kaguya was… But unlike you, she actually had the patience and calm to call herself so. Unlike her, you are not yet immortal… You are no god. You're just a selfish brat pretending to be one."

"Brat?" answers Momoshiki. "Oh please! I am 60 times your age. You're the brat here. And you, Uchiha, annoyed me well enough. Since you seemed to love this other Sharingan user so much, I'll make sure you join him quickly on the other side."

Sasuke leaps up to the Otsutsuki who flies down to him, and the two engage in a one-on-one fight. Meanwhile, the Kages look at each other and at Kinshiki who stands between the 4 of them. Naruto is being healed, and Sasuke is taking care of the stronger one. This means that now, they just need to keep their opponent busy long enough, as it was planned. The Raikage moves first, and rapidly runs to the enemy, starting a sword fight.

Kinshiki and Darui collide their swords repeatedly, looking for openings in the other's defense. Soon enough, Darui realizes the difference in strength and speed that exists between he and his adversary. He thought that using Taijutsu and Kenjutsu was the best approach since their Ninjutsu would just be absorbed, but that was without accounting for the enemy's skill.

Kinshiki takes the upper hand, and disarms the Raikage by striking his weapon off his hands. Ready to slice him in half, he's stopped by a sand hand that holds on his arm to prevent him from going further with his movement. Darui steps back and away from the Otsutsuki's range, to avoid being struck by the blade. The Kazekage's jutsu isn't strong enough to hold Kinshiki very long, and after only a very few seconds, he breaks free from it, out of pure brute force.

Yoton – Sanseiu

The Mizukage pukes a huge acid ball that explodes and causes an acid rain aiming for Kinshiki. Prepared and already familiar with this ability, he easily absorbs every acid drop that falls upon him. With the rain going on for quite a time, He keeps sucking the drops and is kept busy this way.

Yoton – Kaisekifu

The Tsuchikage spews a cloud of volcanic ash that surrounds Kinshiki while he's absorbing the acid rain. The cloud wraps around him and solidifies itself to bind him and seal his movements. Kurotsuchi enhances the binding and makes sure to maintain it. Once he's done absorbing the rain, Kinshiki is attacked again before he can try to free himself.

Raiton – Kuropansa

A black lightning panther emerges from Darui's shoulder and rushes to strike Kinshiki in the head. Unexpectedly, he doesn't absorb it and is struck by the jutsu. Gaara and Mei look at the Raikage, surprised by the first hit they managed to land.

"He didn't absorb it?" asks Mei Terumi.

"The Black Lightning passed down to me by Lord 3rd is created solely uing Sage Chakra." explains Darui. "This is what gives it this singular color. He probably recognized it and didn't want to risk absorbing it."

"Don't give him any respite!" yells the Tsuchikage who runs to him after she realized that her jutsu won't hold long.

Kinshiki quickly gets back to his senses, merely hurt by the black lightning, and contracts all his muscles, inflating them to break the volcanic ash prison that binds him. As soon as he's freed, he's attacked again before he can react.

Doton – Kengan

The Tsuchikage stands right in front of the Otsutsuki and punches him as hard as she can with a hardened rock gauntlet. Kinshiki is sent flying by this blow, and lands, on his feet, on the ground, next to the tree's root. There, he looks up and sees Darui run to him with 3 lightning panthers following him. Even though he's also Sage Chakra user, he chooses not to absorb these jutsus out of habit. He knows of another god who uses Black Lightning, and he knows that he can't absorb this one.

He creates an ethereal willow that he uses to fight off the Raikage and his felines by pushing them back and blocking their strikes. As Darui's mercilessly assaulting the enemy, the Mizukage and Tsuchikage come to help. Floating above them, standing on a sand suspension, the Kazekage assists them too.

Together, the 4 Kages unleash their power on Kinshiki, who rapidly adapts to the situation and gets over it. He throws his willow to one of the panthers, immediately defeating it, and creates another huge hammer that he slams into the ground. The shock causes an earthquake that shakes the land, and even moves the giant tree roots surrounding them. The two remaining black panthers are destroyed by the shock wave, and Darui, Mei and Kurotsuchi are thrown away.

The shock also lifted a layer of sand off the ground, that Gaara, levitating and unaffected by the shock, uses at his advantage. He manipulates the sand and gather it in the air to form a giant sand wave.

Ryusa Bakuryu

A giant sand tsunami forms in a circle around Kinshiki and tightens itself to submerge him. Before it gets tight enough, Kinshiki attempts to stop it by throwing his hammer at Gaara who's right above him, but the Kazekage is fast and far enough to fly away from the weapon's trajectory. The Otsutsuki gets buried in the flowing sand that completely hides him from light.

Sabaku Sotaiso Fuin

Gaara manipulates the giant sand pile and shapes it into a colossal pyramid that traps Kinshiki inside. To strengthen the seal, the Kages who are just getting back up bring their contribution. Mei Terumi forms many stone columns against the pyramid walls that join together at the tip. Between these columns, Kurotsuchi spreads volcanic ashes that solidify and completely cover the pyramid to add a bonus solid layer. As the Tsuchikage and Mizukage are doing their part, the Raikage, spreads lightning through the Kazekage's sand and partially turns it into glass, making it hold together.

Once the seal is closed and strengthened, all the Kages ease themselves, and sit down to breath. They managed to contain the enemy. But unfortunately, they didn't anticipate their opponent's cleverness. The hammer that he threw at Gaara earlier now comes falling down at extreme speed, and hits the piece of art that the Kages all built together, completely shattering it. They all stare agape as Kinshiki leaps out of the glass and stone pieces and grabs his hammer.

He lands back on the ground, looks around to see all the Kages, and prepares for his turn to attack.

"This was very well operated, kids." he says, as lightning appears around his hammer and body. "However, it is now my turn to show you how it's done."

With his movements being sped up by the lightning, he flies, too fast to be seen by any of them, and appears right in front of Mei and Kurotsuchi. With one single hit of his hammer, he squashes them both and sends them flying past the Raikage and crashing unconscious in a dead God Tree branch. Darui, who just caught a glimpse of the two women fluttering next to him, turns around to see them, both already defeated.

When he turns around again, Kinshiki is already standing in front of him. The Otsutsuki grabs the Raikage by the leg and lifts him up, only to violently crush him in the rock bottom. After that, he throws his passed out body where he sent the two other Kage. Darui crashes against the Tsuchikage and Mizukage, smashing them even deeper in the root. Gaara, spectating the fight from above, sees it all happening way too quickly for him to do anything.

He looks at Kinshiki who's now staring at him. After a brief eye contact, Kinshiki jumps forward and, in a second, appears standing next to the Kazekage on his sand platform. For not even half a second, Gaara has the time to see the enemy, and realizes just how foolish it was to think they could defeat him. In not even a second, he got rid of 3 Kages, and he's about to destroy a fourth one. Last time the Kazekage had such despair go through his mind is when Madara Uchiha decided to effortlessly finish all the 5 Kage, including him.

Kinshiki raises his hammer above Gaara's head and prepares to throw it down and annihilate the Kazekage. But just as he's trying to lower it, he feels something, a hold, that keeps him from doing so. Gaara and Kinshiki look up to the hammer, and see Naruto Uzumaki, using his Rikudo Sage Form without his Biju Chakra Mode, holding the weapon and preventing it from crashing down. Kinshiki lets the hammer go and creates a spear in his other hand. But before he can fully create this new weapon, he's knee-kicked away from the sand suspension and sent to the ground.

Before he lands on the soil, Sakura, who's fully releasing the chakra of her Byakugo seal and gathering all her strength in her fist, punches him in the horn, on the forehead, with all her power. The Otsutsuki's horn breaks, and he's sent fluttering through the air and crashing next to the Kage he defeated, shaken by this almost fatal blow.

Naruto lands on the sand platform next to Gaara. He looks around to understand what happened. He senses the other Kages' chakra, unconscious and buried in a dead tree's root. Far in the distance he sees two other roots, completely shattered. One of those is just broken, and the other is burning in black flames. The Kazekage lowers his platform to get back on the ground, next to Sakura. He stares at the Hokage who's still inspecting the area.

"Na… Naruto,…" he says, surprised by the aura that his friend emanates.

Naruto turns his head to look at him, and smiles.

"Thank you!" he says. "I knew Sasuke would come for me, but I didn't expect you guys to risk it too. Thank you!"

"That… is just natural." answers Gaara. "It's our way to thank you for what you did during the 4th war."

"I'll take care of the Kage now." says Sakura, who turns off her Byakugo seal. "Sasuke's somewhere around here fighting with the other one, alone. Naruto, I'm not sure he can do it alone. Please, help him."

"This is what I intend to do." he responds.

He closes his eyes and concentrates to sense the chakra of his friend. Far away, but still in this part of the land, he feels two raging powers confronting each other. They're both dark chakras, that he already felt before. One of them is exhausting way faster than the other. Also, it is far smaller than the other one. The hugest one even surpasses Kaguya's. Naruto turns around to face the place and prepares to go.

"Naruto!…" shouts Sakura before the Hokage leaves.

He turns around to see her and listens.

"Don't even dare to do such a thing again." she says, about his sacrificial play on yesterday. "You had Hinata and the kids deadly worried."

"Sorry, but as I said years ago,…" answers Naruto. "As long as I'm the Hokage, I'm the only one allowed to sacrifice myself… This goes for Konoha, as well as for any other village or nation." he adds, staring at Gaara who sits next to Sakura.

Naruto turns around and runs to find Sasuke, as Sakura and Gaara watch him go to handle the situation by himself once again.

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End of Chapter 41 – Next Chapter: The Divine Blood Cursed Seal Part I