CRACK!
When I heard it, I watched as the lines, like spiderwebs, spread across the surface of the table, but it didn't fall apart yet, held together by all the other auras appearing in response, battling and pushing back against Ashina's own. Despite that, the old man remained standing, both hands resting atop his staff, staring down all the others without any fear. Maybe because he had already lived for a long time, he wasn't worried about something like death.
And there wasn't any sign of him stopping either, because he added even more pressure to it, and the air grew so heavy that I felt it much harder to breathe all of a sudden. The rugs across the floor began rippling next, and the fire in the fireplace bent this way and that, fighting for dear life to avoid being snuffed out.
"What the..." Minato whispered next to me, gulping a little, and yeah, the same, my friend... Same.
"Say that again," Ashina spoke suddenly, adding his cold voice to his nasty stare, right at the Third Kazekage, who wasn't backing down and even answered.
"The Uzumaki clan cannot be permitted to merge solely with Konoha. We won't let it happen."
"You won't?" Ashina's fingers tightened around his staff. "I'd like to see you try."
Oh... I almost forgot he was an Uzumaki, and I guess... they are a rowdy bunch, because by now, the windows vibrated as if the rain outside had turned into a full-blown tornado-level storm. Only... All that shit was happening inside. In answer, suddenly the Third Raikage stood up as he pushed himself away from the table. By the time he was on his feet, blue lightning cracked across his shoulders, and his entire aura descended on Ashina. It felt as if there was an explosion, making me sway a little, while the floor, or the entire building, I couldn't tell, groaned loudly.
"Do not tempt me, Uzumaki. You are too old for this."
"Old?" Ashina looked at him, tilting his head. "Maybe. But you should take it seriously exactly because of my age... Little boy." Then, finally, his smile disappeared. "You attacked my home, murdered my people, and now you sit before me and discuss dividing my clan like livestock. Right before my eyes and ears?" He asked, and he alone pushed the Raikage's aura back to a standstill, making his eyes harden. "Choose your words very well, kid. Because I may decide to spank you, something your daddy should have done decades ago."
Ohhhhhh shit. I like him. I love this old dude! Ahahahaha! Go tell him off! However, I also knew that the discussions had broken down right now and there... Right when Ōnoki sighed, he floated off his chair. The pressure tripled the moment he did so, and my Sharingan activated from instinct alone. Shit was going down...
"Say no more, Ashina," Ōnoki said, but it was too late for that.
"Or?"
In answer, mist began crawling over the table, and I looked toward the Mizukage because it was coming from him, letting me feel how cold his chakra was, finally bringing down the temperature well enough that the fire went out. Not even the Kazekage stayed put, because I spotted the black grains beginning to float out of somewhere beneath his cloak.
Fuck me... By then the entire room trembled, and Minato grabbed my sleeve, putting a mark on me.
THUMP!
A staff struck the floor, and when I snapped my head towards it, Hiruzen was standing, revealing his full shinobi armor, holding onto his black staff. The worst sign was that Hanzo no longer tried to mediate between anyone, and just kept watching... Fuck... He knew this would happen, didn't he?
As for Hiruzen, all that meek, old feeling he had about him finally vanished, and his chakra hit the room like water poured onto an oil fire. He stepped up, supporting Ashina, facing off against everyone in the room, and giving a clear answer on how things will go down in a moment. There will be no relocation or division of the Uzumakis. Period.
As if waiting for the starting pistol, Hanzo finally stood up too, his own aura matching up to a Kage's level... fucking brilliant. Just 'tasting' it, his chakra had an oily, unpleasant feeling, stinging against the tip of my tongue.
"I think that should be enough." He hissed through his respirator, "This is my village, my room... Control yourselves." Not that it worked, even if Hanzo looked toward the Kazekage, trying to intervene. "Clarify your proposal."
Seriously? We're continuing? Are you mad?!
"The Uzumaki have two reasonable choices." The Kazekage restarted while Ashina gave a soft, mocking laugh. "Return to the Land of Whirlpools as an independent village or get split up between us all. No other methods will be approved... If you decide to go against the decision of every other country in the world, you will invite war upon yourselves!"
"You believe I prefer diplomacy because I am afraid to fight," Hiruzen said suddenly, while I was trying to lock onto the others, standing behind their Kages, trying to see who would be the fastest to attack us. Sadly, all their chakra signatures were obfuscated by the much denser ones coming from the Kages. Hm... I was curious who would be the first to throw a punch at me. Naturally, my ears were still glued to Hiruzen's speech in the meantime. "You believe Konoha's desire for peace means we will accept whatever terms you place before us... That is not the case and never would be. I am trying to show you all, over and over again, that you don't have to fear Konoha and its strength. That we are willing to talk, no matter what. Yet you always chose the option to experience our wrath instead. You chose this yourselves... to live in fear. Can't you realize that?"
"You speak boldly for a man who is surrounded by the world." The Mizukage spoke up next, prompting Hiruzen to look at him with a calm expression, then scan everyone else.
"You think so?" He sighed, shaking his head. "Well then. I am saddened by the fact, but I have received the declaration of war. From all of you... And so, if there is nothing else you want to say, we are leaving."
I felt Jiraiya's chakra stir the moment Hiruzen finished speaking, and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sakumo draw his blade, his attention glued to Chiyo on the opposite side of the crumbling table.
Honestly, just having the Sharingan wasn't enough to see everything... Because the next second felt like it went by faster than it should. I think the Raikage moved first, but I wasn't sure because I also caught how Ōnoki's hands came together in a seal while Iron Sand was flying through the room, mixing with the spreading mist.
The world disappeared before my eyes just then, and with a metallic clang, my feet hit the floor hard as I flashed away from the exploding room. I stumbled because Minato crashed shoulder-first into me as we both landed inside the elevator, down on the bottom floor, the last place where he touched something, leaving a mark on it.
BOOOOOOM!
The entire tower shook the next moment, and we began running out of the building, as the whole thing was threatening to come down on our heads. Unsure what was happening, two Ame guards tried to stop us, but Minato vanished, and I just followed his mark without thinking, as we reappeared outside, skidding in the heavy rain and on the wet concrete. Looking up, the top of the building was gone like a bomb had gone off, and its rubble was hitting the streets below just then, crushing any unfortunate bastard who didn't dodge in time.
I couldn't track everyone up in the air, but I saw figures flashing through the sky as the group got split up, but I wasn't sure who was going against whom... But I had a sense that they were all ganging up on Hiruzen. Tsk...
"Renji!" Minato grabbed my shoulder, and he was right; I had to focus on us.
Especially because, from nowhere, lightning flashed behind Minato, and he disappeared, dodging an attack as a fist passed through where his head had been. I was already spinning away, too, when the shockwave reached me as A's body came into view, blue lightning crackling all around his form.
"Found you!" He sneered as Minato reappeared fifteen meters away, and he went after him, probably incensed that he dodged his surprise attack.
I was not going to just watch, so I was already pulling out a kunai when something hooked on it and my arm jerked sideways. I moved with the force affecting it, doing it by reflex, and watched as a staff passed within a hair's breadth of my face, and its hooked end ripped through my hood. Coming out of the surprise attack, I jumped backward, gaining distance, while watching the pale face and cold eyes gazing at me. Tsk... I got Yagura, eh? I think he doesn't have the tailed bastard in him yet... Because Rin isn't even born yet... or she is just a baby. No matter.
"The Uchiha is said to be dangerous." He spoke to me, daring to look into my eyes. "I don't believe it."
"Dattebayo." I shot back by reflex, and his eyes narrowed, clearly confused about what the fuck I was saying, but that was good, because it meant an opening.
CLANG!
I had to give him props for blocking my kunai as I jumped on him, wanting to take advantage of his confusion... The short little fucker had ample strength, too, because the impact between us almost tore the weapon from my hand. I ducked when my attack failed, seeing the hook reversing in his grip and coming at me, catching and ripping my sleeve, before following it up with a knee strike.
However, I wasn't too worried, because I was already dodging him. As I stepped directly on his knee, I turned and kicked at his face, which he leaned back from as my sandal missed his nose but splashed him with nasty water. Too bad he didn't care about that. He tried to get me, but my Sharingan saw everything. I could already tell how he was coming at me from low, changing at the last moment and going into a high attack, which was a feint, as he would swing the hook at me again from the left.
By the time I came out of the dodge, my seal was done, fingers at my lips, blowing fire at him.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
In answer, he did the same. With a deep breath, Yagura swallowed the rain and spat out a wide cone of water, which hit my fire, and, in an explosion, boiling steam consumed everything around us. The perfect environment for him... Of course. We're in fucking Rain Country, so I'm debuffed, eh? Like I will FUCKING CARE ABOUT THAT, YOU BOY SLUT!
Instead, I threw three kunai into the steam, all of them marked. My prediction was right, as Yagura moved away from the high-placed ones, trying to stay inside where the steam, turning into mist, was thickest, right below waist height. As for me, I reappeared beside the high kunai, my Sharingan spinning, a Minor Supernova in my hands, coming down at him from above.
BOOM!
My jutsu smashed through his shoulder, but by the moment we touched, I knew it was just a water clone.
"Fuck!" I cursed as the clone's exploding body wrapped around my arm, feeling the water hardening, but... My attack was too strong, tearing it apart anyway.
I wasn't waiting for it to finish, though, so I flashed away to the last kunai, which kept traveling, already out of the mist, while Yagura's staff hook cut through empty air. Turning towards me, his expression remained completely flat, but his hands were making a seal. I could almost feel his inner thoughts, which made me smile, reminding me of Zabuza from the show.
"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!"
A dragon erupted from the water around him, pretty massive for its size, while I just threw a kunai upward, flashing to it, appearing above the lunging 'beast'... And Yagura was already there. Smarty-pants, hm? Too bad, I was like that too, and what waited for him was another Minor Supernova. The resulting explosion threw both of us backward, and he was catching the ground with his staff, skidding until crashing into the side of a building. As for me, I landed in a roll, making my back hurt... Geez... I'll get ruined before I get thirty, won't I?
Still, it gave me a moment to ascertain where I was, or where the others might be, and across the plaza, I saw blue lightning flashing. I couldn't look more, because Yagura was coming at me again, and our weapons collided, while I fended off three strikes from him in quick succession. I wasn't even thinking, letting my Sharingan drag my body to the correct spot. Watching it happen, Yagura's eyes widened slightly as I slipped into his range. It was way too clear that he had no real idea how to face someone with a Sharingan, because my palm almost touched his chest. He blocked at the last moment, just as expected, so I grabbed his wrist, and fire chakra erupted around my body.
The heat my Ember Mantle produced exploded like a volcano, and it was strong enough that Yagura released his staff and grabbed my arms too, trying to peel it off while water wrapped around his hand, hoping to withstand the flames. Suddenly we were in a stalemate, but... not for long.
"Bad idea," I hissed, smiling at him, but his eyes remained cold... and then he opened his mouth, and I saw something gather in his throat. I wasn't interested in what it was, so I let go and flashed away.
If someone wants to spit on me, at least make it sound kinky and not nasty! Fuck you, man, fuck you! That actually angered me, so before he could initiate an attack, I threw a marked kunai at him. Naturally, he knocked it aside, exactly what I wanted, so I flashed next to it, reoriented my body in midair, and smashed his jaw into pieces with my heel. Get. FUCKED!
I heard it crack as Yagura flew sideways, hitting a metal pipe and bending it, before dropping to the ground, getting soaked by the burst of cold water. He wasn't knocked out, maybe because of the water, though when he stood up, his mouth hung open, coughing up blood, swaying a little. Heh. Try and spit at me again, bitch!
Probably he got angry too, because he raised one hand, as a reflective mirror appeared above it. Oh? Can he do that already? So... Um... That wasn't a Jinchūriki technique, huh? Fantastic information to learn while fighting him. Just for a moment, I summoned a Minor Supernova; so did my mirror image, but then I grinned. Nope! I canceled it, and the reflection vanished.
"Hah!" I pointed at him, grinning. "I've seen that bullshit before."
Clearly, my words shocked him, because he had no idea what I was talking about... Once again, using his confusion to my advantage, I threw explosive tags, knowing the reflection would do the same, and I used the resulting massive explosion to flash away.
My target wasn't Yagura anyway. The reason was simple: Minato had marked A. Little Brother... You beautiful bastard. I got you, don't worry about it!
FLASH!
"Hello," I said, appearing right next to A, while Minato was coming at him from the left. "Surprise." My Sharingan was staring into his eyes as I said it and invaded his mind with a genjutsu. "And goodbye," I added, making him hear it as the last thing in this fight, just when Minato struck him with a Rasengan, while I did the same with a Minor Supernova.
As the rebounding force threw us backward, we both teleported to the furthest mark Minato had put down and watched from afar a tiny mushroom cloud rise from the street where A's body now was. Did he survive? Probably. However, I don't really care about that right now.
"How are your reserves?" Minato asked, making me nod as I scanned the sky.
"Fine. I was holding back. You?"
"Same." He nodded too, scanning the street we were on and searching for the others. "We have to get to the others."
"We have to retreat," I said, making him bite his lip. "That's what the Hokage said. We are leaving... so. Let's leave, because I would bet you anything... they will sense it and follow to keep the fuckers off our backs!"