The fierce battle between titans is something that can only be described as a natural disaster of apocalyptic proportions as each monstrous attack sends out shockwaves that decimate everything within their immediate vicinity; Each time clouds form, they are immediately dissipated by those very same waves. Every block and parry cause violent earthquakes that reverberate all throughout the planet; tears forming in the ground go deep enough that boiling-hot lava begins to erupt like geysers in various spots all around the beasts. The kaiju are indifferent to the chaos occurring all around them as they continue to tear each other apart like a pack of rabid dogs, victory is the only thing that matters to them.
“Wh-What?!” A startled Moryo yells as he lurches back.
The demon whips one of his heads around and sees a giant, translucent golden fox with black markings extending along its body staring right back at him; the fox grips Moryo’s tail tightly, tugging at it.
With a fire in his eyes, Naruto roars. “Me and all my comrades… We don’t bow down for ANYBODY!!”
Tightening his grip and gritting his teeth, the Child of Prophecy pulls hard on Moryo’s tail; the demon claws at the ground, trying his best to cling to the floor, but the terrain has been churned up so much by his three-way battle that he is unable to get a firm grasp. Naruto proceeds to spin, maintaining his hold on Moryo; he speedily accelerates his rotation, spinning faster and faster until finally releasing his grip on his foe, sending him flying. Moryo crashes into a mountain in the distance, flattening it completely.
“Maggot… you’ll never defeat me…!” A growling Moryo slowly rises with a cold glare. “You will all die in vain just like that boy and that pitiful excuse of a kunoichi.”
“*I* don’t have to beat you, you idiot! And also… Never talk that way about Sakura… ESPECIALLY IN FRONT OF ME!!!” An enraged Naruto glares back defiantly.
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“I just need to erase you and I’ll be one step closer to my revolution!” A stoic yet determined Sasuke mutters.
The last Uchiha stands in the forehead of his Perfect Senjutsu Susano’o while hovering in the air, glaring daggers at the Ten-Tails Rabbit. The snarling beast sprouts numerous tendrils from the growth on its back and launches them at Sasuke; with a flap of his wings, the Uchiha dives at the rabbit, narrowly avoiding all of the tentacles while returning fire by throwing one of his Susano’o swords. The ethereal blade pierces its way through several of the rabbit’s tendrils and impaling its chest, the rabbit recoils in pain.
Unflinching and unwavering, Sasuke has his avatar produce an Onyx Chidori and coats it in Amaterasu. “Susano’o: Chidori Heavenly Hand Power!”
The Uchiha instantly switches places with his sword and thrusts his hand forward, plowing his attack into his enemy; the rabbit wails as it lurches back, writhing in pain from Sasuke’s jutsu. Mere moments later, the beast recovers from its injury and lunges for the Uchiha, who in turn, meets it head-on; the two end up grappling each other.
“Woaaaarrrgggh!!” With a fire in his eyes, Sasuke lets out a battle cry.
The last Uchiha takes full advantage of the rabbit’s lack of intelligence; he uses the beast’s own weight and strength against it; still grappling with the rabbit, Sasuke pulls the monster toward him and quickly brings a back step while pivoting on the tailed beast’s front leg, rotating and throwing it over.
The Uchiha looks down on the rabbit as it falls into the lava-infested ravine with a cold, stoic expression.
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“I just need to get Jin to come at me with one of his tendrils and then you can bond with it. That’s all?” Ayanami asks as she steps onto the battlefield with purpose.
Before enacting their plan, Mileena had bonded herself to Ayanami. The young lady resembles a black-suited Spider-Girl with the green flames of her Tenseigan Chakra Cloak flickering off her like a certain Super Saiyan’s aura; in the back of her head, she can’t help but admire just how good their bonding feels.
“No, I need you to get me to Father’s body. Flowing from his tendrils to his brain would take too long…” Mileena replies. “Besides, the tentacle could be severed before I can even get that far.”
“Is that all?” A sighing Ayanami remains unconvinced.
“You know as well as I do that this was going to be a gamble at best.”
“Kill Moryo.”
The kunoichi stops walking and stares down the beast that Jin has become; whatever fear that has taken root in her core is overshadowed by the heartache of having to fight her friend, by the pain of seeing what her friend devolved into; so much of him is consumed by his pain and anger that he cannot distinguish friend from foe.
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…I-I… …wonder if Momotaro ever doubted himself when he had to fight all those oni? Reluctantly, Ayanami shakes her head and takes a deep breath, clenching her fists as she prepares herself for a fight. “Jin, forgive me… I AM going to save you, but first I’ll have to get a little rough with you.”
“Kill Moryo… …I will… …kill Moryo…”
The eldritch horror wastes no time in breaking the stalemate; several of his tendrils shoot out and stab the area where Ayanami is standing, kicking up a thick dust cloud in the process. However, the unharmed kunoichi bursts out from the cloud and runs up one of the monster’s larger tentacles; the monster responds to this by quickly sending out more and more feelers.
Undeterred, Ayanami draws the Blade of the Thunder God, which was gifted to her by Jin and mows down the horde of oncoming appendages with a series of swift and precise sword strikes; the horror tries to swat her away with another one of his larger tendrils, but Ayanami leaps into the air and performs a flip, landing nimbly on the other tentacle and continues charging ahead.
“Huh?” The ever-watchful Hyuga maintains her vigilance. Something huge is coming…
The kunoichi senses that her monstrous friend is gathering chakra in his multitude of eyes. Knowing what is about to happen, Ayanami hurriedly jumps onto another tendril; she watches as the one she was previously standing on is severed off by a barrage of scorching-hot black beams while still running; she is quick to fall to her knees while bending over backwards, narrowly evading another Amaterasu laser as she slides along the tentacle. Once close enough, the kunoichi jumps into the monster’s face and throws a haymaker at his largest eye.
“*BLECH!!*” The slimy sensation of the eye’s surface makes Ayanami cringe with disgust. Eww--this is really gross…!
The monster staggers back in pain, several of his tendrils go to cover his wounded eye. The kunoichi continues her assault by producing two massive chakra arms; she grabs one of his appendages and quickly dashes along his grotesque body, forcing the beast to spin; she uses the moment to throw the monster into the ground, caving in the terrain under him.
“Jin!!” The hovering Kunoichi calls out desperately to her friend. “If you can hear me, SNAP OUT OF IT…!!!”
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“Knowing those three, things are gonna get pretty rowdy soon…” Kakashi thinks out loud as he watches the fight, still holding Sakura’s dead body. “We should probably move a little further away.”
Echo stands dead silent several meters away from the Copy Ninja with Mecha-Naruto at his side; he feels the resulting tremors of the battle taking place in the distance, but he pays it no mind as his attention is squarely focused on Rito.
“Didn’t you hear me? We should move back some more.” Kakashi tells the group.
Echo can hear the leaf jonin speaking, but ultimately ignores him; his graze remains fixed on Rito’s corpse. The longer the time-displaced Jin stares, the more his heart aches; he clenches his fists as old memories begin to resurface, painful memories.
♦♦♦♦♦
Jin and Rito sneakily trudge their way through a canyon several miles south of the Hidden Rain Village. It’s been two weeks since they lost Ayanami to the ambush and this country’s constant downpour is not helping to lift either one's disheartened spirits.
“Rito, what are we even doing here?” A somber Jin communicates telepathically with the Mind Transmission jutsu. “Karasuki’s all charged up and we have our supplies. Let’s just go back to the past and fix this shit. Like right now.”
“For the past three years, I’ve secretly been in contact with the resistance.” Rito responds.
The remaining shinobi, samurai and lesser-known nations that have survived and not submitted to Moryo and Isshiki’s regimes joined together and formed a resistance movement to fight their dictatorships. After years of near-constant rebellion and strife, the tide has shifted, and the resistance is steadily losing ground.
Confused, Jin’s head tilts to one side. “Okay…? And this relates to my question how exactly?”
“I told them about our time-travel plan and have been keeping them updated regularly.”
“YOU WHAT??!!!” Jin's eyes grow wide like saucers at this revelation, he even covers his mouth to muffle any gasping noise he makes. “Why? And that still doesn’t explain why we’re so close to the Rain Village.”
“It gave the people hope, something to live and fight for…” Rito explains. “And that also relates to why we’re here. I want to do some genuine good in the world before we risk destroying the space-time continuum.”
“What’s that supposed to--Who’s there?!” Alerted, a now shouting Jin produces a chakra rod. “Don’t bother hiding, I can sense your presence! Show yourselves!”
The rogue ninja senses the sudden appearance of three chakra signatures and prepares himself for a fight, Rito follows Jin’s lead and pulls out a kunai. Tensions rise due to Jin not recognizing these chakras; he feels sweat running down his face and his heart pounding out of his chest.
“If you won’t come out, I’ll find you myself…” Jin activates the Byakugan he took from Neji’s corpse.
With his near-360-degree visions, he scans the area and spots the new arrivals; they are hiding behind a large pair of boulders a dozen meters away; they are in fact familiar to the red-haired rogue, but he is shocked to even see these specific characters here, let alone still alive. Keeping his guard up, Jin is perplexed as to what to do next.
“Hey, Rito? Who exactly was your contact in the Resistance?” A vigilant and cautious Jin queries. They haven’t attacked yet, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re friendlies…
“She didn’t give me a name, but I can tell you she was a brunette with a star ninja headband.”
With a blank expression, Jin takes a deep breath and relaxes. “I’m whelmed… I was expecting your contact to be someone… important.”