1,335Chapter 41: Illumination
Naruto and his peers looked down on the giant map of Hi no Kuni.
It had been days since Ino's awakening and the group had secretly moved throughout the night to hide away at a place where Naruto knew where Danzo's web wouldn't reach and one where there would be no witnesses that they had moved. Naruto had moved them to Takamagahara via the scroll gate where Sakura and Karin would have much more liberty to work with and have more facilities for recovery of their patients. Naruto had requested a turbine engine specially made for taking advantage of the whirlpools that were surrounding the island and Tsunade delivered. Konoha had sanctioned several turbine engines that were delivered secretly via scroll courtesy of Naruto carrying them over and a team of engineers that Tsunade had personally handpicked along with her ANBU.
When Tsunade had fully authorized them this mission, his team provided them a copy of the gateway seal that led them to Takamagahara itself. Tsunade had proposed that this was going to be their command center for now as it was the safest and the furthermost operational base that Danzo could ever reach.
Operational was a long stretch, though. Tsunade had managed to send a team in the island to create a rudimentary powerplant to harness the natural tide forces of the island's seas to generate electricity after their discovery. It took them quick enough to design a turbine and had it tested and connected to the warship as a source of power for the stationary base, but it was going to be a while before it could operate fully. At least they had power and running clean water for their amenities.
It was here that Sakura had noted the fortresses' medical facilities that were preserved, particularly the hyperbaric chambers used to accelerate the healing process.
They had wasted no time and placed Lee, Neji, Tenten, Ino and Kiba into them.
By the time they were done, Shikamaru was given a large map of fire country and the tributary towns, villages and cities that were laden out through the country in another room while Sakura, Ino and Karin left the base to retrieve another person that Ino had insisted on.
In the meantime, as they were preparing for their assault, the group had to do some training outside the fortress and on the island.
Kiba flinched after he was thrown back to the ground again. He had just recovered from his injuries from the assault just about a few days ago.
"You know, normally this defeats the purpose of recovering from sustained injuries, Naruto."
Naruto stood a few meters away from him as Naruto maintained his stance for a few seconds before letting himself go out of his primary stance and gave a sigh at Kiba.
"Sorry, Kiba. These few days has had me on edge as of late."
Kiba could tell. Naruto had been intense as of late. Though he didn't show it to others, they could tell with the way he acted. When in training, Naruto would not pull punches, he would immediately go for the win and incapacitate his opponent. He would go so far as to activate sage mode and start a beat down that almost anyone couldn't keep up with. The others may or may not have noticed it, but the blonde was pulling away from everyone, running head-first and outpacing his peers at a tremendous rate.
This was the class deadlast all those years ago?
Kiba still couldn't fathom it. When he faced this Naruto, he was overwhelmed. Naruto explained to him that Sage Mode didn't just increase his already impressive physique, it also increased his jutsu's potency and gave him the ability to sense intent. Meaning, short of the sharingan's advanced predictive ability, Naruto had a warning system in his person to tell where his enemy was going to attack. As if this new power up from the blonde was reading his attacker's mind. It wasn't just limited to Naruto, it extended to his clones as well. Meaning his clones can alter formations and readjust to where his opponent will come and perform counters that were probably just as good as to what a sharingan could offer.
Coupled with the blonde's durability and endurance, Kiba felt like he was fighting a force of nature that was impossible to overcome.
It wasn't just Naruto though, Sasuke was showing signs of being on edge as well. A good rule of thumb when facing Sasuke in training, the guy would resort to unrelenting offense immediately. There was no scope, no sense of Sasuke feeling and reading his opponent, there was just someone going in for the win with not much fanfare. Sasuke was as brutal like the blonde but unlike Naruto knowing when to stop, Sasuke would keep going and going until his opponent gave up or Sasuke had pinned down his opponent.
Sasuke, in what seemed like being under a spell, would look like he would snap out of that trance earlier and looked shock just for a second before he would retreat and turn his back away from the match. Kiba could say that Sasuke was troubled. Anyone would be, seeing as he had found out that everyone had been lied to about his family.
Thankfully, Sasuke had Sakura and Naruto to deal his problems with. Kiba couldn't say for certain if what happened that night was very well justified. But it reminded him that Konoha wasn't as nice as he thought it would be. He had learned that himself since he was a genin.
There were unsavory elements within the village's system, but those unsavory elements resulted in averting an even bigger disaster. A little less evil than what the alternative could offer.
Kiba sighed as he got up and his shoulders slumped, Naruto noticed right away.
"Something wrong, Kiba?"
"When did things go wrong in our place, Naruto? When we were kids, we were stupid, well, we probably still are. But we were allowed to be that way, we always skipped classes and goofed off if it wasn't training. How did it come to this?"
Naruto looked unsure as he stared on the ground for a moment before he could answer. Their apparent leader looked dejected for a moment, disillusioned of the fact that Konoha, his beloved village, would be willing to sacrifice its own people for the sake of a peace that required so much blood. Even if that village shunned him, even if they treated him like dirt, and even if he was the one who had to pay to keep the village standing, it still saddened him that his home would still take away more than it needed.
"I honestly can't answer you there, Kiba. I'm in the same boat as Sasuke and the rest of you. My parents paid the ultimate price to seal away the Kyuubi within me just to keep us safe. Sasuke's family paid the ultimate price for what they believed. And many are left in the dark trying to figure things out. Sasuke and I, as well some of you, lost a lot of things we can never get back. All in the name of the village. But what I do know is that we can't leave things as they are. We can't have this any longer. Things need to change. And that first step, is to stop Danzo in his tracks."
"Are you willing to change his mind then?" Shikamaru asked, everyone stopped for a moment as they looked at Shikamaru who was staring up in the clouds with his hands behind his head. This caught Sasuke's attention.
"As I see it, Danzo still has an army in his resources. He's not someone who can be convinced so easily with words like that, Naruto. At least, from what I can see. And if we were to decimate that asset, it would be a loss to Konoha as a whole."
Naruto shook his head, "No, he's too far gone in his mind to think of anything other than thinking of himself as Konoha's savior. I know him. He's not going to change his mind. This can't be avoided. I've been trying to figure out a way to settle this without too much bloodshed, but I don't think I can see it now."
"Know him?" Neji asked, an eyebrow raised, Sasuke was looking at Naruto closely as well.
"He was the one who kidnapped me during that time with Sasuke's brother. He tried to indoctrinate me in his ranks, used half-truths and opinions to mock the Old man Hokage during his time. He was the one who made Sai do all those things just so I could kill him. He threw away his lackey just like that. Those are actions that can only be forgiven by his victims. He dehumanized all that he could, and those are actions that not anyone can forgive. And after finding out what he did to the rest of us, it only strengthened my resolve to get rid of him."
To this, Sasuke seemed to calm down. He agreed to what Naruto had to say. Even if, pragmatically, Danzo would serve a better purpose as someone who followed in line like the rest of them, the principle of the matter was that he had left a lot of bodies unaccounted for in his wake. Those that even included in what he deemed as his fellow shinobi.
Now it made perfect sense for Naruto to be the one to spare Sai. He spared the boy who was supposed to be the sacrificial lamb for the super soldier that Danzo had envisioned on Naruto. Naruto took pity on the Root agent.
But that didn't mean that Naruto wouldn't be prone to sparing Danzo as well.
With that in mind, Sasuke stepped forward and faced the blonde.
"Naruto, it's been a long time coming, we haven't had a chance to fight. Let's take this far back into the islands as we can." Sasuke was going to test his best friend's resolve.
Naruto narrowed his eyes towards Sasuke, whose Sharingan instinctively appeared, recognizing his prowess as a fellow Shinobi.
Just what has he been thinking all this time?
Takamagahara, Med-bay:
The sound of a machine beeping could be heard around the whole med-bay as Sakura, Ino and Karin were busy looking over the unconscious form of their patient. Said patient was lying flat on his bed as he was pulled out of a hyperbaric chamber to treat his wounds. Another chamber had opened and out came Tenten as she flexed and extended her fingers on her affected arm. She noted that the healing process of fixing the bones in her body were quite faster than what she had seen for the past couple of months. She was worried that she might have suffered the same career ending injury like Lee but fortunately, Sakura and the others were able to mend her faster than she expected.
It would not do well that a weapon user like her would have her arms be too injured for her line of work.
Just as she was about to leave, she could hear the girls murmuring amongst themselves.
"It's too dangerous, Ino, you just recovered! Now you want to see if you can deprogram Sai? Are you out of your mind? Something like that would take you years to do! Why are you even going so far for this?" Sakura asked, she found it incredulous that Ino was about to invade the mind of her supposed killer and set him free. It was brave but somewhat stupid on her part.
"Because it's the right thing to do! You all act like it's crazy, and perhaps it is, okay, really crazy, but Naruto shouldn't be the only one who'd be thinking this. Sai needs people around him to learn! Don't act like we should leave this be too, Sakura! You swore on your oath as a medic that we're here to heal people, we didn't come to accept Sai's fate like this! I read the intelligence reports and their recruitment methods in TI, Sai was robbed more than most of us come to think! He's a victim too!"
Sakura rubbed her temples in exasperation, "Of course he is! But you're in no condition to do this! Your father forbade you from probing someone's mind because you're still a novice at it! I've read the medical reports! What if something happens?"
Ino steeled her resolve at this, "Then it happens! I didn't strive to learn all that I can and train as hard as I could to throw my life away! The invasion opened my eyes, Sakura! And risking my life is part of the job! I'm aware and I won't back down!"
Sakura was taken aback by how much she was willing to put everything on the line with their query.
"I think she should go for it." Karin answered as she adjusted her glasses.
Unbeknownst to the two, Karin had been considering the arguments of the two. Logically speaking, Sai is an asset for them for this current problem they were having. She had scanned the boy's health earlier with her diagnostic jutsu along with the other two but unlike Sakura and Ino, her Kagura Shingan (Mind's Eye of the Divine Entertainment) had picked up an anomaly or two from the agent. There were two seals placed on Sai. One just to the back of the tongue and the other just below the nape on the agent's back. She could see the seal beneath the nape was the more prominent of the two as it was connected to several of the Eight Gates that were located on the central nervous system. She had studied enough Fuinjutsu to learn that whatever seal was placed on the body, any correlation to that was a direct function or tampering of said body. The Juin (cursed seal) worked like that. It was used as a storage form for Juugo's enzymes that allowed him to gather natural energy subconsciously with the storage of the seal conveniently placed close to the major arteries and bathmoreceptors near the aorta for rapid distribution and recollection of those enzymes on the body and invading the proper cells to do so.
The one on the tongue was much more subtle. And probably much more sinister. She could tell that the seal there was attached towards the hypoglossal nerve. The one that was responsible for the motor movement of the tongue, specifically four muscles, the hyoglossus, intrinsic, genioglossus and styloglossus muscles. From the way she could read the program within the seal, she could tell that certain triggers would cause the seal to activate. That and there was a kill switch inside the seal that would activate as soon as the one who had the seal consciously triggers the effects.
"Excuse me?" Sakura asked, aghast at the suggestion that a fellow medic would agree to such a reckless proposal.
"Hear me out." Karin stopped Sakura to give her reasoning as she then continued.
"It's obvious that whatever secret they're hiding, they plan to keep those secrets to the grave. Sai here knows what information we will be after. The seal placed on the back of this agent's tongue is our only roadblock from ever getting that information in our hands. It may even have information about Danzo's weaknesses. So, against a professional medical advice, I'd say she should go for it. With the necessary safety protocols of course."
Sakura raised her left eyebrow and with a clean pair of gloves, performed a jaw thrust maneuver on Sai's mandibles and pulled out the tongue gently.
What she saw shocked her.
"You're right! I completely missed that! And based on Karin's observations, it really does look like it's attached to the motor part of the tongue's nerves!"
Sakura was astonished that someone of Karin's ability had such a good eye for diagnostics. Even she wasn't as thorough.
Karin once more adjusted her glasses, "It's easier to me because of my special sensory ability. A miniscule amount ofchakra or disturbance of that flow of is enough for me to know when something is out of place. My Kagura Shingan is like that."
Sakura looked down and began to think about Karin's proposal, "Even so…"
Sakura turned to Ino, who looked over to her with that determined look of hers.
Finally, Sakura relented.
"Fine, you win, Ino. But the moment you see something wrong, you get the hell out of there."
Ino rolled her eyes, "Yes, mom."
Sakura merely gave a sigh and removed her gloves. "Whatever. Just be safe."
With that, Sakura left the med-bay and was surprised to see Tenten there in front of the door.
"Have a minute?" Tenten asked as she stretched her arms before going outside.
"What is it?" Sakura asked, a bit upset about the decision she had to make just to let Ino do whatever she wanted.
"I couldn't help but overhear your talk with Ino and the new girl. If we are looking at this without any hangups, I think it's a good idea to let Ino do her magic."
Sakura couldn't help but agree, "I get the merits, but invading someone's mind who was too ingrained in Danzo's program is something I would caution anyone. I'm sure there's more to this than what we can imagine right now. He has no qualms about doing things underhandedly. He reminds me of someone I would rather not think about…"
Tenten raised one of her eyebrow at this, an expression of curiosity. To this, Sakura could tell that Tenten was clearly intrigued in what she had to say.
"Naruto, Sasuke-kun and I never told anyone about this outside of Kakashi-sensei and a few of the Jounin, didn't we?" Sakura asked Tenten and the medic removed her lab coat as she sat down to one of the chairs outside the med-bay.
"About what?"
"That we fought against Orochimaru when we were genin."
Tenten was now sporting an incredulous look. Orochimaru? The traitor of the Sannin?
Tenten's expression told Sakura all she needed to know, "I'm sorry, but WHAT!?"
"You heard me, Naruto, Sasuke-kun and I faced off against Orochimaru. Well, it was mostly Naruto and Sasuke-kun who did fight him, but I was there, and what I saw deeply left an impression in me. And when I heard about what Danzo did, it only reminds me of what Orochimaru could do. Amoral experimentation, the willingness to cross ethical lines, and the complete disregard of the life of people around them. Whereas Orochimaru is more open about his search for personal gain, Danzo justifies his actions by his conclusions that no action is forbidden for the sake of his ideal. Death is merely a process for them, they don't see tragedy in someone's death. It is a means to an end."
"What does that have to do with this though?"
Sakura answered as a matter of fact, "Danzo isn't above the idea of desecrating a corpse if he could keep his secrets or want something out of it."
"So, you think…"
"That we might be walking into a trap." Sakura concluded as she stood up and walked off. She had to get a hold of Naruto to make sure that nothing triggers what Karin had just discovered.
'I have an ominous feeling with that seal.' Sakura's looks turned sharper as she walked away from the hallway and outside the base.
Naruto and Sasuke:
Naruto and Sasuke slowly walked into the center of the island, to where the ruins of Uzushiogakure laid. Sasuke looked around; he could tell the eerie silence of the ruins reminded him of the Uchiha compound. Despite the growing shrubs and foliage that littered the once thriving village, the deathly silence around the area seemed to hold no life in them. Indra could only look on to see the damage done to this once thriving society snuffed out by the fears of unscrupulous men.
"I don't understand, Sasuke. Why now?" Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted, behind him, Naruto was walking calmly. Like him, the blonde was looking at the ruins. Though, this wasn't the first time Naruto was here. He recalled fighting against Jugo here and how Kabuto was able to get away from them. He had never taken the time to truly look around the area. And like Sasuke, the eerie silence of the ruins brought forth nothing but a sense of discomfort for him.
"Shikamaru made the mistake of questioning your motives about how we should handle Danzo." Sasuke answered and Naruto nodded.
Sasuke then continued, "I don't see any point where this ends amicably with him. You know what he's done. You know the depravity of what he is willing to go through, Naruto. You said it yourself. You want to end this as soon as possible."
Indra's successor then looked at the blonde as he turned.
"But I can't help but find merit in Shikamaru's questions. He says a lot of things that will not be outside of the range of what your behavior could be."
"You're doubting me now, Sasuke?" Naruto asked his friend and Sasuke gave a frank answer.
"Remember when you said that if ever you lost control, I would be the one who would stop you? That just doesn't apply to the Kyuubi too." Sasuke answered and Naruto's eyes narrowed at the Uchiha once more.
"The choice to get rid of Danzo is set in stone, Sasuke. He has done far too much, and his hands had destroyed too many lives to give him any course of forgiveness. There is nothing to forgive, he destroyed the faith we had on the village when we were younger. Your family deserves the peace that they wanted for so long."
Sasuke scowled, "There you go again, thinking of others beyond your own motives. Do you seriously want me to believe that you are satisfying the ghosts of my past if we offered Danzo's head on a platter on the graves of my fallen clansmen?"
Naruto, now looking seriously at his friend, looked livid that Sasuke would once again focus on his own pain rather than see the bigger picture, "This isn't just about you, Sasuke! A lot of us were hurt by his actions! It's not just you, it's not just me! He hurt many of us, made an enemy of us, you think we can just let that slide!?"
Sasuke shook his head, "No, I don't think we would. And why should we? I know you've come up with the same conclusions as I did. That there is a need for change in this rotten system. Unknowingly or not, they had cast off any form of peaceful change with their actions. Blood for blood, an eye for an eye. Naruto, tell me, to where does it end?"
"End what?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto disappointingly, "Don't insult me like this. When you stopped everyone from killing Sai, I know what you were thinking then. You were planning on letting him free from Danzo's grasp. You took pity on him. I should know, one look and I could already tell that I would have been just like him if Danzo had his hands on me. I wouldn't be as forgiving as you were. If I were trapped in that hell, I would have given in to Danzo's demands. I would have killed Sai and destroy the entire thing once I got strong enough."
"I really don't know what you're getting at, Sasuke. Just what is the point in all this?"
Sasuke sighed and then closed his eyes for a second and opened them once again, revealing a fully matured sharingan at Naruto and pointing his Murakumo at his best friend. Sasuke had to push further. So, he posits a question.
"If peace were to be the result of our actions, what would you choose to obtain said peace? A method of pure understanding? Or a method of subjugation?"
Naruto was silent for a moment before he answered, "You're testing me, aren't you?"
Sasuke knew Naruto was right, he really was testing Naruto. But he couldn't give Naruto that satisfaction, his pride wouldn't allow him to concede to Naruto's conclusions.
"Just answer me."
Indra looked on intently from inside Sasuke.
"Peace through understanding is the answer we need to get rid of this cycle. But first, we need to have the necessary power to stand up against the monster that we are currently seeing. So, my answer is both."
Sasuke then grinned, a large one, and his intentions made clear. Indra's chakra suddenly seeps through to Sasuke and the last of the Uchiha takes a step forward and Naruto draws Minamoto no Banbutsu from his sheath.
A clash of metal was heard as sparks flew from where Naruto and Sasuke clashed blades, Sasuke was grinning ear to ear, Indra's chakra making itself known.
"I knew it. You're there, aren't you? I should have known. You knew a lot of answers you shouldn't have! Kurama wouldn't have complied to assist any human, but you somehow got answers from him. No other human could have given you all those answers! That information taught by the Rikkudo Sennin only passed down to his sons, I KNOW YOU'RE THERE! ASURA!"
A cold wind brought forth chills from Naruto's spine as Indra took possession of his best friend.
Naruto could see the flickering sharingan Sasuke was displaying, looking for ways to push Sasuke back. Naruto looked at his short sword holding back Sasuke's katana who was forcing through with both his arms as Naruto held the sword with one.
"You always were physically stronger than me!" Indra shouted manically as Sasuke's cheeks swelled and Naruto knew what he was about to do.
With his free hand, Naruto was about to punch Sasuke seeing as his limbs were preoccupied with pushing against the blonde. But Indra could see, and with a+ slight tilt of his head back, the punch sailed past at his front. Sasuke was about to breath fire at the blonde but felt a force so sudden that it pushed him back several meters and skidding back to his original position. A gout of flame escapes from Indra while Naruto suddenly had a large outpouring of water surrounding him and coming from nowhere snuffing out the flames that surged towards him.
"I knew that I couldn't keep hiding from you for so long, dear brother."
Sasuke looked at Naruto, he could see ambient chakra surrounding him and gathering all around him and when Naruto opened his eyes, his irises where not blue anymore but a golden yellow, his pupils had become bars instead of circular and his eyelids turned red.
'Sage mode… Within a second?' Kurama asked within Naruto and he could see Asura emitting so much chakra that Naruto connected with him almost instantly.
"Finally, you show your true self! A thousand years of fighting and we can now settle our differences here!"
With that, Indra charged and Asura, now possessing Naruto, kneaded the natural chakra within him.
'Let me show you, Naruto, what you need to accomplish before learning Rikudo Senjutsu.'
He let the flow of natural energy come to his left hand as he changed the nature of his sage chakra to earth, without appropriating any hand seals for control.
Naruto's left hand turned solid, a hand that was now covered in stone as the earth gathered within it, deflecting Sasuke's blade to the side which made the Uchiha vanish without a trace, letting him know that it was an after image.
As Sasuke began encircling the blonde on different altitudes and forming multiple after images at once, Naruto remained still as Sasuke struck at his back with the blonde casually blocking the sword with his stone infused left hand.
"I may not see you, but I can detect where you are going to attack!" Asura looked to his back as he sees Indra throw all of his weight into his sword.
Indra merely grinned, just another challenge that he had to overcome.
"The attribute of Earth Chakra in sage mode gives you extraordinary defensive capabilities, Water gives you the ability of executing perfect combat flow by giving you the intuition of where to attack, I know all of your strengths!"
Asura didn't flinch nor budge. The attributes of the five elements where taught to him by the five sages along with his father. Indra may have all of the talents born with him, but Indra did not possess the same aptitude in learning Senjutsu.
"And I to you as well, brother. Your were taught by our father after all!"
Indra had stopped his assault when a swipe of Asura's stone covered fist had almost nicked him in the face. It would have caved his skull in if he didn't see that but Indra suddenly felt something that had managed to hit him in the chest as it sent him flying away and landing on the opposite of his brother.
Indra looked on his chest wordlessly and frowned.
'Wind chakra in sage mode allows him to redirect and control the force of natural chakra in his body. He has invisible patterns of attack that these eyes cannot see. Then Lightning chakra...'
Indra suddenly went on the defensive as Asura managed to close the gap between them in less than a second without warning.
Once Asura appeared, small sparks of electricity escaped from the soles of his feet and fists. Indra managed to block the oncoming attack with his own lightning chakra.
'Lightning chakra increases his speed and fire chakra increases his strength.'
As Indra managed to dodge another blow from Asura by dodging backwards instead of parrying, Indra retreated. Indra gathered his thoughts as the older of the two continued to analyze Asura's abilities.
'This versatility was such an annoying ability to overcome. In sage mode, Asura could seamlessly alter the property of his chakra without warning. But he had a time limit. He had to stay still for a while to regather his strength after a certain amount of time. But that kind of weakness only applied when he was on his own. But now...'
Indra saw no such weaknesses now. Whether it was because Asura's transmigrant was also adept at Senjutsu or that Kurama was supporting him would be the logical conclusions he could come up with. To see his brother now still being helped by others and come out strong for it somehow became an affront to his ideals of ages gone past.
It irritated Indra that his little brother had come to represent his father's ideals.
Indra gritted his teeth. His innate and sacred talents were matching blow per blow with Asura's perseverance and connections.
'Just like all those years ago...'
He refused to admit that such a thing could ever hold a candle to true, unbridled genius.
But here it was.
Asura stands as proof before him. That talent can be overcome by a person who had the backs of those that supported him.
It was a sickening turn for his stomach.
'Get ... Back...'
Indra's thoughts were snapped out of his mind when his host was beginning to stir and gain control against him. Though his will is strong, his host's will is growing to be comparable, and with that ability of his of dojutsu suppression, it was easily crawling up to him.
'tsk...'
Indra clicked his tongue and thought in annoyance.
"I suppose I should give you back your..."
Sasuke's Sharingan eyes then snapped and changed into the Mangekyo Sharingan. Indra's dojutsu suddenly found itself weakening.
Indra was surprised at this.
"What..."
Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan surprised him. There was definitely an exponential growth coming out of his transmigrant, but to see it suddenly growing that it threatened even his control to this extent somehow felt ordained.
"Your control over me... Ends here and now!"
Sasuke shouted in defiance, shouting at the top of his lungs as his Mangekyo Sharingan glowed red in colour. Suddenly, Indra found himself behind Sasuke now, with Sasuke looking back at him while his Mangekyo Sharingan had pushed him down with its ability.
"What... Extraordinary ability ... To think that my descendant would have such an overpowering strength that it could reach me..."
Sasuke, on the other hand, now sufficiently putting Indra in his place, turns his attention back to Asura, who was cautiously waiting for him to make a move.
Asura, now silently looking at the transmigrant of his brother remained cautious. He noticed that the manic gleam and that avaricious and envious aura his brother was giving off was not present anymore, but he couldn't let his guard down. Indra, powerful and prideful as he was, was devious also. Years of fighting his brother made him cautious around him. Asura considered his brother's attitude as a tragedy of his father's decisions.
His father was wise, but he was certainly far from perfect.
Sasuke blinked for a few moments as Asura was now sure that he was not sensing any malice from him. The younger of the transmigrants then turned to his descendant and nodded. He was relegating control back to Naruto.
Naruto, now feeling in control of his own body, looked on in wonder as he saw himself being in the outside world for the first time. The way Asura projected power with Sage Mode was different altogether, he could feel the natural energy around him succumbing under Asura's will.
When Asura turned the attribute of Sage Chakra to earth, he could feel the energy shaping into a shell, when it turned to water, he could feel his body guiding him on to where to go, the wind surrounded itself in a continuous force of nature that went about to where Asura wished and lightning pushed him to new heights that he had never felt before while fire nature felt like a hot and smouldering flame within himself that he wanted to let out.
'A glimpse of what Senjutsu truly is. Tomuki no Touei (Outward Projection) is the manipulation of chakra transformation outward and aligns with Inton (Yin Release) properties and Uchi muki Touei (Inward Projection) aligns with Youton (Yang Release). My father taught me how to let chakra flow both outwards and then inwards. He came up with the twelve hand signs to guide the chakra and project it to what he intends with it. I was never good at performing those sequences, so father taught me how to do them with simple control methods. Though my brother is good at this too, he was never able to master it the way that I did.'
Thus a lost chapter of Senjutsu was once again opened up for Naruto. Asura then continues,
"It should be noted, though, that obtaining this power of Senjutsu is near impossible without proper guidance or even good affinity to Senjutsu itself. One must first be taught by harnessing the very basic foundations of chakra affinity with Inton and Youton. A normal human can never be aligned with both though they can perform techniques that are aligned with one of the basic properties of either Yin or Yang. For a Senjutsu user, that access remains open. Gather Senjutsu chakra from Natural Energy and you have access to Inton, convert that chakra inwards to enhance yourself turns it to Youton. If you have a rare affinity for both..."
Naruto answers his ancestor, "Onmyouton..."
Asura answered with a nod, "That's right, but that is only a fraction of it. True Onmyouton harmonizes both Inton and Youton to a point where materialization happens and Rikudo Chakra is produced."
Asura could only speak of what he experienced. Though he could never replicate what his father had done in his life, it seemed he lacked the piece of a puzzle that could never make him whole. Naruto could feel Asura's emotion of emptiness of a half he could never fill. Whether it was his regret of not reconciling with his brother or the feeling of inadequacy was not made clear to him, Naruto thought it was messed up that there was an inward feeling of emptiness that escaped his predecessor of being cursed to never fully realizing himself.
As if reading his mind, Asura answered the blonde with a smile.
"That is probably for the best, Naruto. Having power alone will not make you great. But having power and sharing it to others to empower them is what creates understanding. And when they reciprocate your thoughts, your feelings and your actions, you create a mightier force than what power could give you."
Asura closed his eyes, maintaining his smile, and continued, "Alone, I could not fill that gap. But when I am with others, it is filled. My wife, my children, my comrades. When I share my life, my will, my everything, I become greater than what I am. Can you feel it?"
Naruto senses Asura's thoughts, he could see people behind Asura just as Asura could see his.
People around him were looking at him with their warm gazes, from his team to his girlfriend to his friends and to his teachers. They all looked at him and believed in him just as he believed in them.
Thus his eyes were opened. They all trusted him and thus, he should trust them as well.
"Now, face your sworn brother. Be the person you set out to be; someone who understands pain."
Naruto could only answer with a smile and simple, "Yeah..."
It was time to answer Sasuke's question.
"It seems you've come up with something."
Naruto grinned, a feeling of confidence sets within himself and answered, "Not really, but what's the use of pondering for an answer when we can look together?"
Sasuke stopped in his train of thought.
"So you answer me with nothing... I'm rather disappointed, Naruto, you go through all the trouble of finding an answer and you've basically given me nothing about what to do with these dangerous elements within our home."
"Sasuke, I can't give you the answers you're looking for. But what do you really want?"
Naruto's grin turned serious, he admits to his friend that he could not find a proper solution to his question. Sasuke answered him plain and simple.
"Resolution... Rebirth, a chance to change things for the better. My past doesn't matter anymore. What I want is Itachi's redemption. A chance to live my life not shackled by that past."
Naruto answered with a smile. Though both standing on opposite ends on a river, Naruto was sure that he would maintain that connection with him.
"Then whatever you wish to see through after Danzo, I will trust you. You may be a bastard, Sasuke, but you're my friend. We'll make our dreams come true, and dream of a world where peace is a reality. We just have to take care of Danzo first."
Sasuke could only grow a smile of his own, "Even if that means that I will covet your dream to become Hokage?"
Naruto didn't seem to react too badly to it. In fact, he seemed to welcome the challenge.
"Hah! I'd like to see you try!"
From beyond the clearing of the two transmigrants, Hinata watched as Naruto's joy was for her to see. It seemed whatever confrontation she was about to witness was immediately dispelled.
She had to let go a sigh of relief. That tension she was sensing with the two suddenly found a release that she had been witnessing for a while.
One of her summons, Genbu, looked up to its master and asked, "Has the battle between Asura and Indra come to a full stop?"
Hinata wordlessly nodded as she deactivated her Byakugan and Genbu turned to look out at the horizon and nodded. The snake head then arched forward to look along with the tortoise head, "Then we have bought more time now. Though that clash is not something to be worried for now, the descendants of Indra's and Asura's are not guaranteed to stop their squabbling. We must make haste before it comes into full tilt and a conflict that can destroy us becomes a reality once more."
Hinata looked curious at this, "Do Naruto-kun and Sasuke-san really have to fight at the end of this journey?"
Seiryuu merely went into his thoughts as he answered, "There is no guarantee, but from the thousands of years that these two transmigrants interacted, it seems to be more clandestine rather than coincidence. And every time, one has to die in order for the other's ideal comes into fruition."
And who often wins in their clashes? Hinata asked within herself, Suzaku did not wish to give its master any false hope as he answered, "The one who remains the victor in most of these fights were Indra's descendants."
That is why the four summons remained hidden to never be exploited by Indra's line.
But there was an anomaly with the last time the descendants fought.
Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara faced each other and Hashirama won, soundly beating back Uchiha Madara at The Valley of The End.
Hinata looked worried. Was Naruto destined to die young then?
Seiryuu notices Hinata's looks of worry and tells her, "History is not pre-ordained, Hinata-sama. You have bore witness to this. Let not this be a sample of what is to come. Be with your beloved and ease his worries. Love is stronger than fate. Let events fall where it may, but let love be true and fulfilled."
Byakko nodded, "I may not be as poetic as the lizard, my lady, but I concur with his thoughts on the matter. Worry not for the future for there is no other time like the present."
"I take offense in being called a lizard, little kitty. But your boorish attempt at my manner of speaking can never hide your rapscallion nature."
Suzaku merely perched on Hinata's head as it was scratching its head, "Is that supposed to be an insult?"
Genbu's snake head could only sigh, "It is. But let us not squabble any further. Hinata-sama, I suggest we continue our training. The less time we spend mastering all of our abilities, the more time there is in preventing a catastrophe. We must not let the cycle continue further."
The tortoise head nodded and added as it turned back from the cliff, "Learn Hoshimoro no Kekai (Star patterned Barrier) and Hebi no Sento Gyaku (Snake Spire Reversal)"
Hinata steeled her resolve once more. She would do anything in her power to prevent a tragedy if she could help it. She didn't want anyone to die. She didn't want to feel that loss ever again. No, never again.
Takamagahara, Med bay:
Ino had jumped into the mind of the agent with not much fanfare. She had come not just to find out the weaknesses of their enemy but to also save the one from the hell their enemy had put them through.
She looks around. All she could see was a white floor, a white ceiling and a white wall. All around her, she could see nothing but white. It all seemed so sterile until she notices a small fissure to where she stood. As she walked, the small cracks on the floor started to spread, started to become more jagged. Ino's attention then looked at the cracks on the ground that she was making, and the small lines of abrupt interruption turned bigger, more jagged, more out of control, it crawled to the walls, made way to the roof and got bigger, as if the mind was shattering by the second.
Then, the whole space breaks. She looks around her, seeing the pieces of the room shatter like glass, it was all so fragile in Ino's mind. And the white room was now replaced into a dimly lit one, now with more detail. Rough tiles on the floor, two small windows with bars, and a boy who had his back turned to her and was kneeling down, holding a kunai that had the stain of blood on its tips.
'You've done well of what is expected of you... You are now accepted as a recruit of Ne, the shadow of Konoha.'
Ino turned to the voice and she saw an old man wrapped in bandages, holding a wooden cane and then stamped it on the floor once more to turn the boy's attention to him.
This was probably their target. The man named Shimura Danzo. The third's rival and shadow.
'Emotions cloud the mind, it kills judgement. Once you've failed at making that decision, then you compromise the mission. Kill your humanity for the sake of the ideal.'
Was Danzo praising Sai while also lecturing him so detached from his first kill? Sai turned around, eyes widened in the horror he had just committed. On his first training session, and already he was asked to kill or be killed. It matters not to Danzo. Those dead on the first trial would serve as nourishment for those that remain. For each step forward, Danzo would pit his agents against one another in mortal combat. Those not worthy were to die. Those worthy would be hardened killers for his elite force.
Over time, Ino saw Sai's inhumane training with each passing memory. She watched as Sai was subjected to pain tolerance, breaking his legs, repairing them, then redoing the process over and over again, he was forced not to shout as he was branded with hot flaming metal and his skin burned for each prod as he was forced down. Ino watched as Sai was subjected to all types of torture and watched as Sai slowly gain a mental switch to automatically turn off his emotions. He began injuring other members in spars, sometimes outright decommissioning them with injuries that would cripple his enemies for life and she watches it all, horrified to learn of what Sai had to do to survive.
'You are my sword in the night, my shadow in the sun. Konoha will be safer and will be none the wiser. If Konoha endangers itself with fostering dangerous elements, then we must snuff them out before Konoha itself knows it appears.'
As the voice said those words, a shadow creeps in and extends from the floor. Ino turns around and notices the shadow extending further and further inward towards the center oof the room to where a large pile of bones were seated. Ino notices the room, black and white in color. As if to remind her that the mind that she was invading did not have any other things left to show.
The shadow then slowly bubbles in the center as it coalesced, a figure then rises from the shadow, a black haired individual wearing the standard ANBU armor, beneath a black shirt and pants while wearing a mask that showed no animal, but rather a faceless one with no markings whatsoever. On its back was a long Katana, the figure simply grabbed the hilt of the sword and slowly brandished it from his back, the sound of metal being let out told Ino that this might be the boy's mental defenses.
Ino wordlessly looked on and analyzed her situation. It seemed she had unknowingly triggered the mental defenses that Sai had in place being a black ops agent. It then started severing some of the images around it, particularly ones where Danzo were seen by the boy. It seemed to be protecting Danzo first before protecting Sai's mind. It meant one thing to Ino, this wasn't Sai's mental defenses flaring up, but rather an invasive aspect of the mind that Danzo had placed. One where the aspect did not care for any delicate matter that constituted a person.
Ino gritted her teeth in absolute rage. In the end, Danzo never cared for anyone but his ideal. And this man used Sai as an attempt to warn the intelligence department not to poke their noses on his business. A clear sign of disregard for others except to his ideal.
A man that uncaring cannot be allowed to be Hokage.
Ino held out her hand. Inside the mind of her patient, the ones who probe the mind cannot actively call out their skills as much as they need. Her father taught her this, but they can borrow aspects of the mind that can aid her in whatever she needs provided that she uses it for the preservation of the patient's mental faculties. As anything that they would disrupt would be considered as an invasion or a takeover that the patient would absolutely resist. Or at least, the body's natural defense mechanisms. This included the mind.
Brainwashing and desensitization could take the edge off, but a natural defense could never truly be beaten down, merely suppressed. Her father taught her this important fact in her training one Ibiki and Anko had demonstrated this to the point like they were mind controlling their victims, but at most, they were merely pushing things just right at the edge but never snapping. Inoichi had personally trained them in the ways of the mind without actually being mindwalkers themselves but they had a skill that not many could cultivate to their best like Ibiki and Anko were. Ino simply adjusted her chakra, and with her sensory ability, could quickly figure out where was what within Sai's mind. Ino then guided her chakra to where Sai had suppressed his mental defenses and slightly pulled.
Ino was surprised that her sword had appeared within his mind, planted on the ground complete with the scabbard. Perhaps it was one of the remaining things in the boy's mind before he was completely consumed by Danzo's experiments. She pitied Sai as she pulled the blade from the ground and withdrew the katana from her saya, now staring at the faceless entity that was simply staring at her.
It creeped her out, to be honest. But Sai's mind was subtly telling her that this was the best that he could muster.
It seemed she needed to pull out more until they can functionally suppress this creature.
Ino went into her stance and could feel sweat dripping from her brow. Thus, she thought, that she was going to save Sai and deal with this parasite.
Outside, in the material world, Ino was sweating propusely, Sai's heart rate was steadily climbing.
"It's going to one-fifty's, Sakura, I'm seeing QRS complexes on the ECG's still at normal and the Blood Pressure is normal but I don't like that heart rate. Maybe you should ready your inotropes just in case." Karin advised and Sakura shook her head. Sakura checked Sai's output and it was well within range.
"Tachycardia doesn't mean he's going into shock, there could be other causes. And if we give any inotropes right now with a normal BP we might worsen an impending arrhythmia, We should push more fluids for now and I'll maintain the Shosen no Jutsu." Sakura refuted. She glances at Ino who she noted was slowly gritting her teeth.
The effect was quick. Like having a sudden blackout, the light in the room turned out for a few seconds and soon happened once more. Ino could feel the shift of Sai's mind going out slowly at first as it slowly gives way to his mental defenses.
"This is a jutsu that only I know. Not even my teachers nor my teammates are even aware of what I'm about to do. So prepare yourself, this is Gogyo no Rin (Ring of Five Elements)."
Ino then slowly shifts her blade with her hand and performs a low stance, her blade hidden from sight as she vanishes in a blur, her chakra now splitting into several parts as five silhouettes splits from her, running towards the masked parasite.
"Shodai no Rin: Harukaze! (The First Ring: Spring Breeze)"
Five clones suddenly surround the masked figure as Ino had five slashes delivered at once. The masked figure simply avoided them all at the last minute as it jumped in midair and performed a perfect somersault and soon, Ino quickly followed up as she shifted her stance. She raises her sword high, blade side gleaming up as she swings upwards as she lets go of her stored chakra within her sword upwards as an updraft of wind and chakra manages to hit her target.
"Nidai no Rin: Yakumo Tatsu! (The Second Ring: Eight Clouds Rising)"
Ino then rides the updraft of highly pressurized wind and chakra as she gave chase to her enemy. As she nears her target, Ino lets out one vicious upward slash that was deflected by the boy's tanto, Ino then followed it up by a horizontal slash that was parried by the masked entity as Ino spun again, not at all losing momentum, as she let's loose a rising diagonal slash that was once more parried, sparks of metal escape between the two as blade met against blade, but that didn't stop Ino as she performed another set of slashes as she then does a midair roll to slash down at her opponent who had managed to block the attack but not the force to throw him down on the ground, the five clones of Ino before then jumps along side her from above and all slashed down at her target opponent.
"Sandai no Rin: Samidare! (The Third Ring: Early Summer Rain)"
The five clones then dove onto the target as they slashed their way at the masked figure. The being simply recovered and flipped back as he avoided what would have been certain death. But that did not stop there. The five clones simply intersected one another in a blur as they scattered once more as they performed the first stance, Harukaze. The masked figure, now within reach of its target, realized this early and raised its blade, it turned its face into one of the monitors, to where Sai had first met Danzo, and severed the memory in twain. Its red eyes glowed beneath its white porcelain mask.
Outside, Sai's body began entering in crisis just as Sakura had finished Sai's fluid resuscitation. He was starting to breathe raggedly and began convulsing and Karin was quick to notice the change.
"Blood Pressure's spiking suddenly! Heart rate jumped to two hundred's! I'm seeing ventricular tachycardia here!"
Sakura inwardly cursed.
"I'm going to sedate him now, you can do basic raiton, right? We're going to do a cardioversion!"
Karin nodded, being in Konoha for months, she was introduced to a crash course of immediate first aid training and advanced cardiac life support courtesy of the medical corps. It was as comprehensive as it was intruiging for her. Being stuck behind a lab with Orochimaru merely telling her what to do without any basis nor scientific explanation made her more likely avert to any form of biological science, let alone medicine. But here, her gifts actually had a chance to be refined. It reignited her curiosity within her mind to learn about this branch of shinobi arts that she had been curious for years. It made her feel useful and alive.
It was like a dull blade finally finding a whetstone to sharpen itself against. Not one to be left unused and unrefined forever.
As her hand lit up with electricity enough to reset the heart, she grasped her palm over Sakura's jutsu that was sedating Sai and introduced lightning through it.
"CLEAR!"
It was only a second, but Sai's chest jumped from the force of electricity entering his body as it reset his heart.
"Vitals are stabilizing. P QRS waves are present. No fibrillations, no SVT's, we're in the clear for now."
Sakura curiously looked down on Sai, the only thing keeping him alive at this point, were now the medics around him and Ino trying to push his consciousness out.
"We've made some time, Ino, get your butt into gear and finish it!"
Inside, Ino was distracted for a moment as it felt like an earthquake within Sai's mind. She could see a fissure forming near the masked creature. It had just destroyed a part of the boy's mind.
Ino was now racing against time. She needed to finish this now.
The creature then looked around, it intended to ignore Ino, now that he was near all of the vital parts within the boy. It turned around and was about to go for another screen until Ino had accelerated faster than before and blocked the blade, sparks flew into the air as Ino's clones had dispelled all at once. The blonde was holding back the blade that had the memory of another person in Sai's mind. A person she had seen in his picture book.
She turned her attention back to the parasite that was about to deal a devastating blow and thus invoked the fourth stance.
"Yondai no Rin: Eiyo (The Fourth Ring: Radiance)"
Ino then parries the tanto away from her forcing an opening against the creature and spun around, delivering a horizontal slash to the abdomen, slashing the creature by the stomach as she turned around and went into a thrusting stance.
'That's right, finish this.' Ino could hear someone whisper into her ear but could find no one. But she couldn't just take away her focus on her enemy. But she could hazard a guess. Normally, those same mental defenses that Ino brought up were not something she should have messed with. Those were as detrimental to her objective most of the time. But now, those mental defenses that Sai had learned to suppress and what she had been pulling from were what he would need to survive and what she would need to help her get to her goal.
"Godai no Rin: Kiretsu (The Fifth Ring: Fissure)!" There was a moment of perspective for Ino, her vision warped as she performs the final stance, a finality she had never seen before. With a complete and fluid motion of her thrusting maneuver, Ino slammed the blade, brimming with chakra straight to the chest as the sword blew out of the opposite end, piercing the creature and forming a fist sized hole to the chest as it was blown away immediately with a force so strong that the creature was not just destroyed by the blade, but mangled with the sheer magnitude of force.
Outside, Karin notices a change in Sai's chakra, the one seal that was placed on the boy's tongue had disappeared. Like it was erased. She turned to Sakura as she said, "She did it."
Sakura could only sigh in relief as she turned to her patient's monitor and found that Sai was mostly left intact.
There was a rhythmic sound of the beat that Sakura could assure herself that Sai was now out of danger.
Inside, Ino began the process of fixing the damage done to Sai's mental world when another person had appeared beside her.
It was the same boy that Sai had drawn within his picture book, the one who appeared on the opposite end of it.
"Thank you, for setting him free."
Ino had finally drawn out Sai suppresed self. And wouldn't she know it, it manifested itself as Sai's first friend.
But she had to ask, "Why manifest as this form?"
This creature, or a mere representation of what it actually was, seemed to have a thought of its own. It was answering her autonomously too.
"I am just a representation of this body's repressed self."
Ino's mind invasions were usually weird. She had recalled trying it on a subject for interrogation a few months back. The trip was nauseous and grating. More disorganzied thoughts merely showed that the subject was mentally unstable but her interactions seemed to go haywire for some reason. It was obvious to her that there were still kinks needed to be looked over with her jutsu ability, but nonetheless there were improvements to be had.
"I'm not exactly sure if I fixed him or not, there's probably some underlying trauma still for him, there's probably going to be a lot of therapy going forward with him. But I couldn't just sit around and do nothing while he gets condemned for not even having a choice in his life. It doesn't sit well with me, I wanted to survive and to thrive but not in the expense of someone like Sai or anyone like him for that matter." Ino replied, thoughts of guilt and shame for overlooking people like Sai came to mind. One more moment to throw in the bin for living in privilege over people who had nothing over them. Ino felt lucky, lucky enough that her parents had enough prestige to hold her away from Danzo's yoke.
"This boy's life has always been one where his chocies were taken away from him." The creature replied and Ino nodded.
"And this will be the last one where we take it from him. From here on out, anything Sai decides will be up to him. But for now, his choice to die shouldn't be for someone else's ambition. He decides it if he REALLY wants to."
And with that, Ino blinked for once and found herself out into the med bay of the mobile fortress with Sakura and Karin looking at her curiously.
"Did you do it?" Sakura asked, looking at Ino apprehensively as Karin used her Kagura Shingan to check for any fluctuations of chakra within Sai but finding none.
Ino could only nod.
"I have what we need."
That night, Shikamaru and the others gathered at what was considered their war room. Standing in the middle were Naruto, Shikamaru, Sasuke and Neji, as Shikamaru spreaded out Fire Country's map once more and began pointing to the south eastern side of the country.
"Three bases. With the most likely hub that we'll find Danzo will be here." Shikamaru points to the south eastern side of Hi no Kuni, closest to Konoha. He then holds a Shogi piece and places down the Knight there, with the King placed on the east of the Fire capital and the Daimyo's palace and then the queen by the north nearing the sea situated closest to the northern border of Shimo no Kuni, the closest place to the border on the north near Kaminari no Kuni.
"We'll be taking the one closest to Konoha, then?" Neji asked as he looked over to Naruto and the others who all seemed to agree. Truth be told, forming a strike team with this much personel was risky. They was nary a jounin in this group seasoned enough to take on someone that was once considered Sarutobi Hiruzen's equal. The Professor was a genius, a once in a generation talent that had faced down extraordinary foes in his time. Prime or no, Danzo was not one to be underestimated. And Tsunade was pressing her luck very way too much for them. But Tsunade had promised Sasuke his vengeance, something that they knew that could not be denied. And this was the closest they have ever been.
This was their only chance. And if Danzo gets away, then they didn't know if they could ever again catch up with him.
It was time for the Shinobi of Darkness to fall and to uproot Konoha's darkness from its depths.
To be continued...
I think this is a good place to stop for this chapter
Jutsu corner:
Gogyo no Rin 五行の輪 (The Ring of Five Elements)- A Kenjutsu anthology of techniques that mixes chakra manipulation and kenjutsu attacks, mostly a variation of the standard kenjutsu style that ANBU tend to use. It is named for the five main elements present within Nature manipulation of chakra itself as it resembles certain phenomenon for each element.
Shodai no Rin: Harukaze 初代の輪: 春風 (The First Ring: Spring Breeze)- D-rank: The first attack resembles Mikazuki no Mai or dance of the crescent moon, where the user quickly performs five or so clones with the Bunshin no jutsu and attacks the enemy in five different angles of attack. Due to the nature of this approach, the target is left open on all sides as they try to evade or block the attack, leaving them vulnerable to four more slashes.
Nidai no Rin: Yakumo Tatsu 二代の輪: 八雲立つ (The Second Ring: Eight Clouds Rising)- C rank: The second attack, by manipulating chakra into a concussive force, the user slashes the blade upwards, forcing a blast of chakra surging up equating to a full on smash with a sledgehammer. This creates space between opponents that allow the user breathing room to reset the battle between them or force the enemy flying upwards as a setup for the third attack.
Sandai no Rin: Samidare 三代の輪: 五月雨 (The Third Ring: Early Summer Rain)- B Rank- The Third attack, resembles the first rain of the early summer hence the name, the user attacks the enemy in a downward slash that uses the same amount of clones as the first attack, leaving the target unable to defend themselves from multiple angles. The third attack is usually the finisher or the coup de grace but two more rings are added into the sequence to those resilient enough or lucky enough to withstand the first three attacks.
Yondai no Rin: Eiyo 四代の輪: 栄耀 (The Fourth Ring: Radiance)- A rank- An all or nothing slash that manipulates chakra to the blade itself to strengthen the blade in a powerful swing. Due to the blade shining with chakra, it is thus named after the shining radiance of a sun's rays. Due to its high risk high reward nature, it is difficult to safely perform leaves the user vulnerable if it misses, which is why it is meant to be as a finisher and not a standalone offensive skill.
Godai no Rin: Kiretsu 五代の輪: 亀裂 (The Fifth Ring: Fissure)- A rank- The last of the five attacks that Ino alone has knowledge of. It is an attack that copies the concept of the fourth ring and mimics the method of Tsunade and Sakura's method of gathering chakra and releasing it to the point of impact. In this case, the chakra is gathered at the pinpoint tip of the blade and once it releases on impact, it creates a piercing phenomenon that describes more as punching a hole through the target rather than a stabbing or thrusting the blade. The difficulty of such a technique requires two things, execution and an opening long enough that Ino can capitalize and use the technique. The margin for error is so narrow that a single mistake of measuring distance and timing would result in a large opening that an enemy can exploit.
It has been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry, but real life has been such a pain. I'm close to graduating next year as a resident pediatrician at a public hospital and the work has been grueling and it bogged me down. I've been so close to quitting multiple times and right up to the promotional boards, I've been such a wreck that I've thought multiple times to resign and just take up writing as my main job. I've been thinking about doing a or something instead but ultimately decided to put it up in the air once I'm done with residency. I'm sorry for people blowing up my Inbox and not replying, I've just been so busy. The lifestyle of a doctor is not something I wish on anybody. My sleep schedule has been terrible, it has taken a toll on my social life, and it has made me terribly unhappy and my relationships had suffered because of it. But after YEARS of grueling work, I'm finally close to that goal. Hopefully by next year, I can go and take a nice long vacation and turn my energies back into passion projects like this one. Thanks to all those who kept pestering me to at least put it in some time writing and encouraging me to continue.