When Chrono stopped, it was not directly in camp, but on top of one of the lookout towers on the southern edge of the main camp's outer defenses. Heavy mist obscured the number of boats, but I counted over twenty sails peeking through the fog. The ocean-facing wall had already collapsed in a few places, and there was fighting along the rumble as they tried to hold the line. With no other choice, I summoned the last of my clones that I kept in reserve since we could not afford to lose the main camp.
Fire, Scorch, Laser, Yin, and Water formed around me and dashed towards the camp without prompting. Chrono sat down and began to meditate as she was nearly completely out of chakra after carrying me back, so I did not bother her. I sighed, breathing harder than I would like, then teleported myself inside our command center.
"Give me some good news," I demanded the moment I appeared.
"The Cloud doesn't seem as committed to the attack as the Mist. Space has already messaged that they're holding the line," Phantom replied.
"Inoichi is protecting the medical building, and Choza is directing our defenses," Shikaku said.
"I'll go help then," I stated with a nod, trusting that Shikaku would handle the overall battle.
"Akari," he called then tossed me a pill. "Looks like you need it."
Catching it, I smirked and popped the bitter pill into my mouth, recognizing the special Nara clan soldier pill. "Thanks."
I ducked out through the flap, and my attention was immediately drawn towards the sounds of shouting and fighting, barely acknowledging Shikaku's two assistants who were guarding the entrance. I dashed down the familiar corridors with the body flicker jutsu as I searched for any Mist ninjas, and it did not take long. It was a pair of chunin who did not even see me coming before I landed a heavy punch on one of their backs and kicked the other in the side. Both were sent flying, crashing into stone walls, but I moved on.
There were several more small, weak teams moving throughout the camp which I dispatched with the same amount of ease. A large explosion made me change direction, and I found one of our storage buildings destroyed. Two Leaf ninjas attacking a Mist jonin nearby, so I kicked off the ground and shot like a rocket towards the woman.
She noticed me and finished a series of hand signs. She released a steaming stream of boiling water from her mouth and turned her head to cut off my advance. I dodged upwards as I drew a marked shuriken and threw it towards her. Smartly, she chose to jump away instead of deflecting the weapon as she started another series of hand signs. I threw another two shurikens at her in the air and teleported to the first shuriken as she released a cloud of boiling steam, engulfing the two weapons and where I had been a moment before. The shurikens flew out of the cloud and past her body then I teleported behind her. I kicked her straight down into ground, gouging a trench with her body and stopping right in front of the pair she had been fighting.
Before I could even think of an order to give them, there was an eruption of heavy, dark, twisted chakra that could only mean one thing. The moment my foot touched down again, I kicked off the ground and raced up the side of the nearest tower. I was not alone as my clones, Choza, Inoichi, and even Shikaku had scaled the closest high point, and we were all looking in the same direction, towards the coast.
Deep in the mist surrounding the boats, a red glow was rapidly growing brighter as the volume of chakra kept increasing. The Mist ninjas immediately abandoned attacking the camp and started to flee, but not towards their boats. To make matters worse, many of the young Leaf genin began to panic and started to run too.
"Can you handle it?" Shikaku's voice echoed through my mind by way of Inoichi.
"I'm going to have to. Lend me Choza, and I'll send three of my clones to help you directly," I said as I dismissed, then resummoned my Yin, Fire, and Scorch clones.
"I'll meet you at the walls, Akari-sama," Choza responded.
"What's left of them," I retorted, rushing towards the coast.
The red glow suddenly vanished, but not the flood of chakra. I dismissed and resummoned my Water and Laser clones beside me, though Water broke off to the side, heading for a channel that directs water out of camp. The thick blanket of mist suddenly swelled upwards, and the waves crashed against the shoreline rapidly. A colossal white form broke through the fog with its slick body glistening with seawater and mucus alike. The sound of crashing boats accented it as its six massive tails unfurled behind it; the creature rose higher and higher above the coastline.
"Son of a bitch," I growled as I landed on a chunk of the wall that was still standing.
"I think this event can excuse some cursing," Choza remarked, landing next to me with his staff in hand.
I scoffed and made a few hand signs in unison with my Laser clone then pointed two fingers at the giant slug. Beams of red-orange fired from our fingers and pierced through its spongy skin, though the damage was negligible compared to the size of the creature. Still, it seemingly angered the slug who roared with anger before spitting a stream of acidic bubbles at us.
The three of us dodged in different directions. Laser to the right, Choza to the left, while I raced straight towards Saiken, charging my Yang Chakra Enhanced Strength to its maximum. With my Yang clone still fused with my body, I kicked off the ground and sailed fist first into chest.
The impact was like a thunderclap, and I managed to push back the tailed beast a step. Unfortunately, its body was covered in a thick, acidic mucus, so my fist, chest, and even my face was covered as it splashed backwards. I landed on the water, allowing some of the waves to wash away some of the slime, but I did not stop since I knew my technique could handle this level of damage, and honestly, I did not have another option.
Saiken spewed a stream of acidic bubbles straight down at me, forcing me to dodge to the side. A tail came swinging at me, but before it could hit me, a wall of water erupted under it, causing it to swing high. The water continued to build and shove the tail aside as a Water Golem formed, under the control of my clone. It was not even half as tall as Saiken, but on the open water like this, its strength could not be underestimated.
Another laser beam struck the head of Saiken, who was lucky enough to raise its head to prevent its eye from being hit. A large black rod swung and hit the slug's side, making it stumble due to Choza using his Multi-Size jutsu. I jumped up and delivered another punch straight to its gut.
It doubled over, raining the acidic mucus all over my body despite me trying to evade. The burning pain radiated across my skin, even as it healed, but my armor was not as lucky. My glove was already dissolving, and the edges of my bracers and coat were bubbling away.
The Water Golem smashed a fist into Saiken's face, driving it back, while I allowed myself to sink into the sea. Using chakra, I propelled myself towards the legs of the golem then swam up its body to stand on its head. I leapt up as high as I could while making hand signs. I swung my arm when I finished and fired a wide laser beam, though the technique allowed the energy to spread out and lose a lot of its cutting power over the distance, leaving a sear across a portion of its skin.
I flipped in the air and aimed my feet straight at the fresh wound. When I slammed down on its head, I sent it crashing into the water then ground, and thankfully, my previous attack had burned away a lot of the mucus. The stomp would have crushed Rasa's Gold Golem or one of Jiraiya's toads, yet Saiken proved just how resilient a tailed beast was and started to rise almost instantly.
One of its tails came sweeping across its back, forcing me to jump away, but another tail was already sealing that escape route. To dodge the blow completely, I teleported to Choza's side, though another tail was coming for him and my Water Golem. Similar sizes, Choza swung his staff at the incoming attack while the golem fired a river of water at the same point.
The tail was stopped, but as Saiken raised its head, a black, violet ball of chakra was starting to form. I flung a handful of shurikens at the slug's face then kicked off the water in hopes of interrupting the attack. A lance of a laser beam struck the forming Tailed Beast Bomb, but it did nothing as the black chakra swallowed the beam and kept building. I teleported to one of the shurikens and delivered a strong uppercut, but it was still too late.
Saiken's jaw snapped shut, but it still managed to fire, though not at me. The oppressive black ball of chakra zoomed overhead, flying straight for the main camp. Thankfully, Chrono had recovered some of her chakra and had teleported herself onto the walls. She threw out a shuriken and teleported in front of the Tailed Beast Bomb, her chakra flaring. The moment that she intercepted the attack, her body exploded in a poof of smoke, but a flash of silver, with hints of yellow, covered the dense ball of chakra and, suddenly, it was moving in the opposite direction.
I barely had time to teleport back to Choza's side and start to retreat before the Tailed Beast Bomb struck Saiken in the face. Both of us were thrown back by the blast, searing and burning my skin worse than the acidic mucus. I bounced a few times across the ground like a skipping stone before gouging out a shallow trench and finally stopping. My head was pounding from the impact and the rush of memories from Water and Chrono, so I laid in the dirt, unmoving, for a few moments.
Saiken roared in pain, making me lift my head as I feared it would try to launch a second bomb. Laser fired another beam, striking the creature's massive eye and making it roar again, but thankfully, the tailed beast turned and retreated into the sea. I let my head drop back to ground as Yang dispelled, ending our fusion as her chakra ran low.
A few moments later, Laser landed next to me and looked down with her red-orange eyes as she asked, "Still alive?"
I groaned with annoyance and pain. Every inch of my body burned and ached, and I was exhausted beyond belief.
"I wonder how long it will take for your hair to grow back. The half bald, burned look really doesn't look good on you," Laser mocked as Choza slowly walked over.
He was back to his normal size and carried a number of burns across his body. He gave my clone a peculiar look before stopping beside me and looking down. "Can you walk, Akari-sama?"
I forced myself to sit up with a groan, and he offered a hand. When I took it, I saw that most of my bracer had been eaten away by Saiken's acid. He helped me to my feet, allowing me to find more holes that had been eaten into my armor and bloody wounds on my arms and chest. As we slowly walked back towards camp, there were numerous Leaf ninjas who had been watching from the walls and were now cheering.
Among those faces, Shikaku, or a clone of his, stood on the gate and shouted something as he pointed towards us. Several medics raced towards us, carrying stretchers, so I just stopped and looked behind me. Saiken's shadow could still be faintly seen under the water as it continued to retreat, but the destruction it left behind was unmistakable. Shattered and charred pieces of Mist vessels were strewn across the beach. Blackened, almost glassy pits speckled the sandy stretch of land, sizzling and faintly smoking. Even the sea water was struggling to remove the white splotches of the acidic mucus, bubbling away at the edges as the waves slowly broke them up.
When the medics reached us, I did not hesitate and collapsed onto one of the stretchers. The balance of exhaustion and pain kept me from passing out completely, though I allowed my mind a moment to relax, trusting in my comrades to keep me safe. When I was younger, I had always wondered how it would be to face off against a tailed beast and, while I survived, I was in no rush to try it again.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The moment that Saiken began to form the Tailed Beast Bomb, an invisible pressure covered the entire camp, as if Death itself was breathing down everyone's neck. Shikaku looked like he might panic for a moment, but then he noticed how Phantom completely ignored the danger and focused on adjusting the pieces on the map. He created a clone and sent it out before he turned his attention back to the large-scale map.
"Southern Outpost Two and Three look to be stabilizing; most of the survivors from Outpost One are moving towards Two," Phantom said, nudging a handful of pieces towards the Outpost Two marker.
"You're not going to worry about that?" he asked with a hint of suspicion.
"There is another Space-Time clone nearby if Akari can't stop it. Besides, I'm ultimately a clone, fleshy," she retorted with a smirk then frowned, sensing another signal on the FTG network. With a few hand signs, she teleported the message to her hand which had a single word written on it, Rin. She cursed, crushing the paper in her hand, and overlapped the mental map with the physical one as she focused on Shisui's position.
"What is it?" Shikaku asked a moment before the Tailed Beast Bomb exploded, thankfully not in camp.
"Rin Nohara... Shisui just notified me that she was taken," she explained.
He frowned as well, glancing over the map, then back at Phantom. "We can't spare anyone right now. Over a hundred Mist shinobis are spreading throughout the region aside from the outposts under attack. We need every soldier that can fight combing the forests, hunting them down and shoring up our defenses."
"I can't ignore this! Akari specifically..."
"Akari is battling a tailed beast right now, and a massive battle is still raging! We can't divert any of our forces for a genin, even if you're close to her," he insisted logically.
Phantom gritted her teeth, knowing that he was right in a sense, though he was missing a lot of crucial information which she could not explain casually. Tracking Shisui's and Kakashi's movements were easy enough, but the official and unofficial markers that Rin carried had seemingly vanished, which all but confirmed her suspicion. She noticed that the direction they were heading was northeast, between Northern Outpost Two and Three, and they were not too far from another group. She scribbled out a quick set of orders then sent it to Kurenai despite knowing how much danger she was sending her team into.
"I have to send someone," she said, moving Team Kurenai's piece to an interception point along Shisui's and Kakashi's path.
Shikaku sighed, shaking his head, but did not argue. Akari, and her clones, rarely disregarded his suggestions, so he accepted that she was overly sentimental and protective of her student and Minato's. At least she had not abandoned the camp to go chasing after the kids.