Chapter Forty

Pre-Chapter A/N: Please do check out the first chapter of the novel I'm working on up on Patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)- it's completely free to access. 

What can I say except you're welcome? Here we go with the seventh chapter of 2025. Lovely to have you all here, and I hope you enjoy this one. If you do, feel free to head over to Patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) and read the next three chapters- I update there on a daily basis so there's always something for you to read. 

Izuku did not feel good. There was a ringing in his head that refused to go away. A ringing that did not get any better by the sound of metal on metal that intruded on his sleep. He wanted to shout at Uzume and her brother to get out of his garden and go bother someone else before he realised he wasn't napping in his garden. The ground was much too hard, not the rich mineral-filled loamy soil that he had imported all the way from the capital. Also, the sound of metal on metal was not gunbai on gunbai like it was when Uzume and her brother sparred. One of those weapons was definitely a katana, and that was when the memories of what had happened surfaced in his head. He shot to his feet so quickly that his brain protested at the sudden movement. 

He bore the pain with a stiff upper lip like he had been taught and turned to the fight that was progressing. Fight was a generous term. Uzume was the most powerful Uchiha of their generation. When he was younger, he would have fought that fact to the bitter end, but age had weathered his ego to a shadow of what it once was. Uzume was even stronger than most of her brothers and for her eldest, everyone knew it was just a matter of time. He was sure that if not for the crush on Shori that everyone, except her, could see, there would have been calls for her to be made clan heir instead. That was to say, that most powerful in a whole generation of the most powerful clan to call the most powerful village home or not, Uzume was being destroyed. 

Cuts littered her body, scattered in different spots where her armour did not cover. Just looking at her told Izuku that her armour had saved her life more than once already. He scowled at his present condition and debated healing what was undoubtedly a concussion before he changed his mind. He was strong—he could still fight. And there was no room to save chakra. He formed the horse seal and flared his chakra to alert Uzume before he spat out a volley of wind bullets. She body flickered backwards, moving in his direction while the Weasel blocked every single wind bullet with almost casual swings of his blade. 

"The two of you have delayed me for long enough" The Weasel said, and then he moved. It was like a flicker of displaced air. The armour that had warded away so many of his attacks gave way as he slashed Uzume across her body, almost cutting her in twain, from hip to shoulder in one swing. Izuku barely even got to form a single hand-sign before he received the same treatment, two cuts across his hands, severing both his wrists from the rest of his body that he never even got to react to before a blade was embedded in his stomach. 

The Weasel removed the blade, allowing Izuku to fall back to the floor, gasping for air. 

"You'll both die in a few minutes. I'll allow you the time to make your peace with your gods and with each other." He said before he disappeared. 

XXXXX- THE HYUGA HEIRESS 

This was supposed to be an easy mission. Just go deal with the reserves and move on. First there was izuku, Uzume, and Kuro going off on their own. She decided in her heart that she was finally going to confront Kuro about the testosterone. She knew they'd gone spoiling for a fight and silently trusted Izuku to keep their heads in the game. Still, she was confident that the rest of them could do what was necessary. It had all begun perfectly as well. 

Kizuru and Toshiro had used their genjutsu at opposite ends of the baggage train to sow confusion amongst them while Shiba had gone in and done what he did best—sowed chaos. She silently upgraded the danger rating of the entire Aburame clan as she watched Shiba touch someone who went on to touch someone else before collapsing to the floor dead. 

"What was that?" She heard Omoikane ask. 

"That was a unique formulation of fine. By breeding the Kikaichu with the rinkaichu in my body, I can create a new species that feeds on chakra even while poisoning its host. It's worse at both abilities than either of its parents but the combination of the two and the unique ability to breed in a host faster than any other insect I've ever seen makes it perfect for sowing a plague like this one" Shiba said, adjusting his shaded goggles as he watched his handiwork with a dispassionate eye. 

"Sick" The Sarutobi said with an excited tone, and it was all she could do to avoid looking at him in shock. The 'infected' shinobi were egged on by Kizuru's genjutsu to touch as many of their comrades as possible once the initial confusion had worn off. She was wearing specially designed earplugs that blocked out the sound of Kizuru's flute which she knew echoed far and wide across the field. He had grown to be a master at using Shorirama's gift. 

Toshiro, on the other hand, weaved his own genjutsu in a more insidious manner. As they began to turn on themselves in their confusion, he made certain shinobi invisible while changing some others to look like Konoha ninja. It wasn't even much, what he did. He could change what a headband looked like in addition to the colour of flak jacket, and that was enough for previous comrades to turn on each other. She silently applauded the effort even as she thanked the gods for the gift that was the byakugan. If not for an inbuilt ability to see through illusions, she was sure that even just watching this would have left her paranoid about their use for the rest of her life. 

So if everything had been going well, why was she complaining? Because of this bitch, of course. She'd spotted the missile as it began to approach several kilometers away, and it was already upon them by the time she'd managed to warn her team. 

She just about managed to dodge out of the way as it tore through the ground behind her before stabilizing and revealing itself to be a woman in a very low-cut yukata that exposed the valley between her breasts. She looked familiar, Uraume thought to herself for second. Uraume did not get the chance to assess her further before she shot at her again. The Hyuga heir barely managed to spin out of her way this time, turning the spin into the first spin of the Eight Trigrams: Rotation as the woman turned around and shot a water bullet in her direction. When she came to a stop, it was to see the woman being beset upon from all sides, and still managing to fight her way through. 

Shiba's kikaichu surrounded her, but most of them fell dead after getting close to her. She barreled through Omoikane's great fire bullet and folded him in half with a single kick while dodging out of the way of Toshiro's retaliatory blade strike. Uraume jumped into the fray along with the others, eyes narrowed and visage furious. How dare this woman? 

Still, the woman seemed to be capable enough of dodging out of the way of Uraume's grasping fingers while forcing Toshiro on the back foot and ignoring every attempt Kizuru or Shiba made to get her attention with their genjutsu or insects. She knew that Shiba's more powerful and dangerous insects required him to make physical contact with the victims because they couldn't fly or survive outside their hosts for more than a few seconds. 

She dodged out of the way of a backhand and struck when the opening presented itself. Her fingers jabbed right into the woman's midsection, blocking an important chakra node even as she was forced to backpedal almost screaming from the pain of her fingers being scalded. The steam around her wasn't just for show then, Uraume concentrated chakra around her fingers to shield them even if she knew it would come at the cost of blunting her gentle fist a fair bit before diving back into the fray. 

The chakra node remained blocked, but the woman adjusted well. Her chakra control had to be incredibly precise for that. 

Omoikane made several seals and breathed out an actual firestorm atop the woman while both Toshiro and Uraume body flickered out off the way. The woman stood there and took the firestorm point blank before emerging unscathed from the other side. "You took something that doesn't belong to you and I want it back" She said next. 

"What the hell?" Kizuru replied. 

"We don't even know who you are" He said, while Uraume's mind was reeling. She could see it now. She had to be related to the girl from the cave- an older sister maybe—the resemblance was uncanny. The cave. The same cave they'd stolen the waterskin of infinite water, dooming the Land of Rivers to a drought, and killing this woman's probably sister in the process. Oh Shori, she rested the temptation to curse his name, but it was a close thing. 

"You will. And you will return what you took, or I will take your heads" She said and moved again, a missile in motion. 

Uraume was the first to react this time, diving in her way and forcing her to change her routes from where she had almost stormed into Shiba. Kikaichu buzzed angrily as they swarmed about their fighting forms. Uraume saw the chakra of Toshiro's genjutsu as it took a hold of the woman, and she took advantage to land two strikes at her chest, each aimed at her heart. She broke the genjutsu and kept on fighting. Sheathing her fingers in chakra to protect them from the steam meant that the chakra pathway over her opponent's heart was only partially closed, and the steam was starting to get to her. 

She jumped back, attempting to retreat, but the woman was upon her once again, sticking to her like white on rice. The Suna reserves were probably getting themselves in good order right now. This fight would draw their interest. Dozens of shinobi would fall upon them in short order, and this woman just refused to stop coming at her. She sighed in frustration and spun into the Kaiten to ward her away while she tried to think. She needed a way to get this woman away from them. They were all dead if she stayed. She was strong, and while Uraume was sure they could beat her with time, she wasn't certain that they'd manage to do it before the Suna shinobi were at their throats. 

Coming out of the Kaiten, the woman jumped at her again. "Wait. Stop" She yelled. 

Shockingly enough, the woman stopped. 

"See, we weren't the ones who took your waterskin, but we know who did" She said, feeling like this was a betrayal, but knowing it was the logical thing to do. She'd seen Shori fight, this woman wouldn't last a minute against him if he wasn't holding back. She was also going to be handicapped by two blocked major tenketsu. 

"Tell me" the woman spat. 

"Shorirama Senju. He's about two dozen miles Northeast" She said, ignoring the twinge in her chest. She could see both Kizuru and Toshiro bristling behind her, and knew there would be hell to pay within her unit for this choice. But it was the right choice. She was a shinobi, blade over heart, and the mission always came first. Danzo-sensei had been more than clear about that fact. At least, Uzume wasn't here—she'd have set her on fire already. 

XXXX- SHORIRAMA SENJU 

He'd known there was no saving Choni the moment he got a good look at her. The Puppeteer's body was strewn across the floor in bits and pieces from his sand burial rip-off, and he wished he had taken more time with the bastard. Shika had turned away from him and was staring into the distance. Inoken, on the other hand, was wailing into Choni's body as he tried to do what he could to ease her passing. Medical ninjutsu had always come easy to him—few things didn't- but he hadn't ever pursued it with the zeal that he ought. 

He knew next to nothing about creating antidotes to poisons- to be fair that was more actual medicine than ninjutsu, but Tsunade had been willing to teach and he, like an arsehole, had been uninterested. He could remove a poison from his body with all the ease of stitching up a cut, so what did he care for learning to cure them. This is why he should have learned. If he had been minutes earlier than extraction would have been possible. With his byakugan, he could see the poison running through her bloodstream. It had already made its way to her heart. It was designed to cause a painful death rather than a quick one, and he cursed the puppeteer for it once more. 

Her breath hitched as she regained consciousness. Inoken was at her face in seconds. 

"Shika" He called out, turning to his cousin. Her eyes looked empty when they turned to him. 

"She doesn't have long. You should say your goodbyes" He said, as he squeezed Choni's hand before getting up and ceding his place beside her. They were friends—he was friends with everyone from their graduating class, but he knew she needed her teammates with her now. Shika took his place and he stepped even further back to give them their space, pretending not to hear the way Shika's voice cracked as she spoke, or how Inoken had just broken into soft sobs. 

He turned his attention away from them, looking for anything to distract him. Jinpei was making short work of the remaining Suna nin. His mud clones didn't exist without him connected to them so they'd faded when he came to intervene in this fight, but it wasn't like it mattered much. Jinpei had water aplenty and Shorirama had already whittled down their numbers and put the fear of god into them. If these ones had any sense, they'd run just like the others had. 

Using his byakugan allowed him to catch the Weasel's approach, and allowed him to bend at the waist in time to avoid a slash seeking to remove his head from his body. He usually would have said something witty, maybe even made a joke, but he wasn't in the mood for it. His friend lay dying and it was his fault. He wanted to hit something and this man had volunteered himself for the honour. 

He felt his wind armour come into being with a snap of displaced air and then he was off. He jumped and dropkicked Piandao back in the direction he'd come from, only noticing in the last second that the man had blocked the attack with the flat of his blade and was only sent skidding back a few feet. He landed on the ground with his hands, and transformed the area around them into mud. The man was fast enough to escape the mud and land on solid ground by jumping backwards, but it didn't matter. 

A massive hand rose from the mud and tried to grab a hold of him. He dodged again, moving right in the direction of Shori's rasengan holding left hand. He lifted his sword, blocking the million threads of grinding chakra with his chakra blade. Shorirama shifted his feet as they pushed against each other to father even more leverage and send the man flying backwards. He landed in a tent, collapsing it as he rolled back to his feet. 

"You're fighting quite differently from-" He never got to finish the sentence as he was forced to cut through a flame dragon bullet that exploded right before his blade could hit it. Piandao was an old hand when it came to fighting and was not so easily caught out, though. He sheathed his whole body in his unique chakra. The chakra that made it impossible for him to use traditional ninjutsu- a weakness that he had turned into his greatest strength. 

Still, age was one hell of an equalizer. Shorirama Senju was moving into his adolescence, not even sniffing at his prime yet, while Piandao was past his. That was enough to hint at the outcome of the next few exchanges. Multiple hands of mud stretched from the mud pit, aiming to catch him in their grip. He had tried to cut through one only to find it had separated of its own accord and had almost succeeded in entrapping his blade. After that, he had decided that discretion was the better part of valor and began dodging out of the way of each of the hands, but more came as the hands began to form an intricate cage to entrap him, 

He scowled at having to use this trump card against this upstart but decided it as preferable to having to deal with seeing what that mud could do to him. He reached out for the first of those gates—the locks that controlled his access to his life power and unlocked it. "Kaimon: Kai" He whispered to himself as he unlocked the gate of opening and delighted in the way the upstart's eyes widened at the change. He felt his cold bones creak at the power that now lay in his muscles but bore the pain with the ease of experience. He bent at the knees, and then he was off again. He brought his blade to bear as he reached his target, slicing through the mud hands that had aimed to block his progress too quickly for the boy to react—only to come in contact with a spinning dome of chakra. The Hyuga's annoying Rotation. 

A/N: Are you guys going to scream at me? There was no way for them to win at present. It just wasn't possible. Also, Piandao with the Eight Gates does sort of make sense- it's a bit unreasonable to think that only Konoha nin would know how to open the eight gates- maybe Guy and Dai were the only ones to take it so far, but with the way Kakashi explains it in the series, it doesn't seem like a Konoha exclusive technique. There were Suna and Oto shinobi in earshot, and he didn't care about hiding it from them. As always, the next three chapters are up on Patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga). If you just want to read complete chapters and not my work in real-time, then feel free to purchase this story as a collection on my Patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) page so you get to read each chapter after I finish it and not necessarily the daily updates available with a regular Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) membership- nice way to support this story and me while you're at it. Enjoy!