Chapter 45-A Ghost's Whisper!

Chapter 46

FUGAKU UCHIHA

There was a reason that the Mangekyo Sharingan was so feared. The prowess of an Uchiha wielding the legendary doujutsu was simply too much.

And as he stood there, huffing, tiring as he found himself exhausting his reserves the Sanbi was no better than him. Bruised and battered, the beast raged loudly slapping him with its tail, as his Susanoo put up its shield absorbing the impact once more.

BANG!

The force from the strike was enough to drag his feet across the ground, yet Fugaku stood tall, for behind him was the village. He knew not what was transpiring within those walls, but he knew that Konoha would be safest as long as the Sanbi stayed out of it.

The beast itself was under a genjutsu. He had tried to push it back, and yet the caster of the genjutsu was not an ordinary shinobi as well, and with him exhausting his reserves in battling the beast on his own, he lacked the chakra to break the genjutsu using brute force.

"Katon: Great Fire Ball Jutsu!" he signed quickly as he spewed a torrent of fire at the Sanbi, who curled up with its shell to protect itself, as it slapped at him with another one of its tails.

CRACK!

The Susanoo made to intervene, yet he was surprised as he heard it crack and watched as the Susanoo began to unravel infront of his eyes. The armor around it began to degrade and vanish, and its size reduced as the Susanoo entered its primal skeletal form.

"Shit!" he cursed as he coughed up blood. His reserves were down, already, and the Bijuu seemed to realise his weakness as it burst out of its shell and roared so loudly that it tore up the trees on the ground.

"ROARRR!" and it gathered its tails as it began to gather, chakra infront of its mouth once more. Chakra was usually invisible to the naked eye, yet in highly concentrated forms it gained a physical shape.

The Tailed Beast Bomb, was perhaps one of the mightiest weapons in the arsenal of the bijuu. An attack that could decimate villages by itself, and as he saw the Bijuu gather its chakra for another attack he knew that it must be exhausting itself as well, given that the size of its attack was much smaller than the one it had used earlier.

"I will not let you!" he shouted as pushed out his reserves looking straight into the eyes of the beast as the giant ball of chakra compressed.

"Susanooo!" he screamed, pushing his chakra into his kinjutsu once more, as the armor began to form around the Red form once more, as the shield appeared.

"ROAR!" the tailed beast attacked in an instant.

BOOOM!

The attack tore through the ground, cutting through the forest as if it was nothing as Fugaku brought forward his arms, knowing that this might be his undoing, and yet he was a Uchiha, and Uchiha stood tall.

"AHHHH!" he screamed, using what little of his chakra remained as he reinforced his Susanoo, yet suddenly, he saw a kunai whip through the air as it landed infront of him.

And then, an instant later, a figure clad in the white Hokage haori appeared right infront of him, putting himself in between him and the Bijuu's technique.

"I will handle it," Minato said. Fugaku did not miss the blood splattered on his face and uniform as the giant purple orb of chakra vanished suddenly, before a loud explosion far away into the mountains rocked the ground.

"ROARRR!" the Bijuu screamed in agony, and Fugaku noticed that the genjutsu cast on it went away, as Minato stood tall, his face cold and stoic as he stood face to face with a bijuu.

"Kushina?" he asked, hoping that she was safe.

"She is safe and secured. Izuna-kun came just in time to save her," and the name of his son was a surprise. A welcome surprise, as the without the Genjutsu the Sanbi began to thrash violently.

"We need to seal it back," he said, and Minato nodded.

"I want to try to save my student," Minato added, and he remembered that the previous Sanbi jinchuriki had been one of his students.

"Is that even an option?" he asked.

"If you can control the bijuu and put it to sleep, I can try and rework the seal," and it was a risky decision. The better and quicker option would be to either slay the beast or seal it back into a new jinchuriki.

Yet he could understand his care for his student.

"I will need sometime to recoup some chakra," and Minato nodded.

"That will be just fine. I will buy you the time," and then an instant, he vanished again as he appeared above the Sanbi, before suddenly a massive orb of blue chakra appeared in his hand.

"Rasengan!" and he saw it smash into the head of Bijuu, and the mighty armor of the Sanbi cracked infront of his eyes as the beast thrashed in agony.

BOOM! BOOM!

THRASH!

And yet Minato was a blur, blurring through the air, as he bombarded the beast with one jutsu or another, when suddenly another voice cut through the air.

"NINPO: Adamantine chains!" and he looked glanced back and saw Kushina Uzumaki standing there, pale and sweaty, as she plunged her hands into the ground.

CLINK! CLINK!

And at their command, a dozen golden chains emerged from the ground and began to wrap themselves around the Sanbi as they pinned the beast to the ground, immobilizing it.

"What are you doing here, Uzumaki?" he lashed out at the woman.

"You are a jinchuriki, and the village is und..."

"The village has been cleared," she replied through gritted teeth, her effort visible as she bound the Sanbi with her Kekkei Genkai.

"Minato slew all of the Kiri forces before he came here," and the man in question appeared besides him.

"How much more time do you need?" he asked him, and Fugaku checked on his reserves as he bit into another chakra pill.

"A minute," and the man nodded.

"Good. Let me set up the sealing array then," and with that the man began to sign, as Kushina cut in.

"You will have to put the Sanbi in a genjutsu and reduce its chakra very slowly. Because if you rush it and clamp it all down in an instant, then Rin will die," and he nodded.

"I will guide you through it," and that would be enough for him.

And as a minute passed, Minato slapped his hand on the ground.

"Fuin: Expand!" and a massive sealing formula covered the entire ground, as the Uzumaki chains pinned down the bijuu.

"I am ready," he said as he pushed chakra into his eyes and looked straight into the bijuu's eyes.

"It's done," he said as he captured it in a genjutsu.

"Now, clamp down on the bijuu chakra slowly," added Kushina, her own eyes closed, probably using her sensing technique to monitor it all.

It was an effort trying to control the bijuu, yet it had been weakened a lot because of their fight. The adamantanium chains helped as well to suppress the chakra, and he watched as the beast grew smaller infront of his eyes.

The armor vanished as it was reduced to its cloaked form, and then slowly and slowly, the cloak vanished revaling the form of Minato's student, whose skin had burnt and scalded because of the erosive bijuu chakra.

"It's done!"

"SEAL!"

The formula closed in, and suddenly, the beast was locked back into the girl, who screamed before falling down lifelessly on the ground.

"Rin!" he heard Kushina scream as Minato appeared beside the girl in an instant, and Fugaku did not miss as the man's face hardened as he put a hand on the girl's body.

"She needs an iryo-nin at once," he said, turning towards him and Kushina as both of them replied at once.

"Izuna!" "Izuna!"

And Minato nodded as he grabbed the girl and vanished in a blur.

0000

Miles and miles away in a cave deep underground, Zetsu knelt infront of an old decrepit figure, repeating what he had witnessed earlier.

"Another failure," Madara Uchiha whispered in a raspy, broken voice as he sat there on the throne. his death had been but an act, for he had feared such an outcome.

"I am afraid so, my lord," Zetsu added, his body half black and half white as the old decrepit soul sighed.

"I had feared as much," and indeed he had. Especially after they were forced to alter the plans after the outcome of the Kiri mission had shifted from their intended purpose.

"What a shame that it was a Uchiha who stands in my way," he added, leaning back as he recalled the name of the ninja who had uprooted all their plans.

"Izuna," he whispered as he stared at the dark ceiling, and the name was so familiar to him. To think that someone with that name would stand in his way and challenge his ways, when his own brother had been his most loyal supporter.

"What are your orders now, my lord?" asked Zetsu, and this was not the first failure they had faced. But it was perhaps the biggest one yet. They had planned for this over the years, and yet all of it had been upturned by a single shinobi.

Yet, he could not let such failures bog him down. Not when his purpose was as grand as it was.

"We must do as we have always done," he said, examining his will's amalgamation.

"Kill the boy, and tie up all loose ends," and the Zetsu nodded, as he replied in a grave tone.

"It's already done," and that was wise of it. And so, he raked his mind to think of a new plan, and this failure had made him realise that he could no longer rely on a pawn to do his bidding.

That choice had been wrong.

In the end, if he were to bring about any change to the world, he had no choice but to do it himself. Yet his body was frail and dying. Barely kept alive by the chakra of the Gedo Mazo.

But there was no other choice. He could no longer rely on anyone else.

"This failure has taught me that I cannot rely on pawns to act on my behalf," he said, looking at the ceiling.

"If I am to change the world and bring about true peace. I must do so with my own hands," and the plant-like creature nodded at his words.

"But how, my lord?" it asked, as a plan began to form in his head.

"My eyes," he began after a second of silence, as the plant-like creature perked up.

He had given them up, with the hope of getting them back years later. But it seemed like his plans had been foiled, and now he needed a new plan. One that did not rely on pawns, so he did not need that red-haired kid and his little ensemble.

They were all useless now. And so, he gave the order for Zetsu to retrieve them.

"It is time for me to get them back..."

0000

MINATO NAMIKAZE

He would be lying if he said that he did not hesitate for a second, before he finally decided to bring Rin to Izuna-kun, knowing he was the only person within the village who could help keep her alive.

It was a given that once a bijuu was completely unsealed, the jinchuriki would die, and yet he had feared such an outcome and had placed a sort of second seal inside Rin, fearing such a day.

He had never thought that his little fail-safe would be forced into action so soon. But he was thankful that he had done, so for his actions had now given him a chance to save Rin despite his failures.

And as he appeared back in that cave from where he had rescued Kushina, he steeled his heart as he saw the destruction and decimation that rocked the area. There were signs of a typical battle, and as he looked up, he saw Izuna-kun sitting there, kneeling over a body. His hands had that green glow around them, and he clearly looked labored.

And his fears came true as he looked at the face of the person lying infront of him, and found it so familiar. It was the very face he had mentored for so many years, only to be betrayed in the end.

"Obito," he gasped as he walked up to Izuna-kun, who was sweating profusely as he used his iryo-ninjutsu to keep him alive.

"Kushina was right," and she had warned him about this. About how the enemy's chakra had seemed somewhat familiar to her, and he had not wanted to believe her. Had hoped that it was all a mistake.

But he was wrong.

"I am barely keeping him alive," Izuna-kun added as he glanced to the side.

"After our battle, I defeated him, and just before I could question him about his actions, suddenly he fell down, and his body began to decompose. I suspect that whoever and whatever was keeping him alive tried to cut their losses and let him die so as to protect their secrets," Izuna-kun added, and the young Uchiha clan scion glanced at Rin's body in her arms, and he saw his mind race before his eyes met his.

"I cannot treat them both at the same time," he whispered as Minato's heart stilled.

"You will need to make a choice," and he felt his heart twist ion agony as he found himself forced into an impossible choice. He could feel Rin's dwindling existence in her arms, yet he stared at Obito's bleeding and broken form and wished to know who had done this to him.

Who had twisted him in such a way to turn on his own village and family?

It was an impossible choice, one he did not wish to make. But he was the Hokage, and he was responsible for making these hard choices.

"Who has the greater chance of survival?" he asked, his voice cold and lifeless, as Izuna-kun answered in an instant.

"Rin," and he closed his eyes as he lay her down and gave the final order.

"Save her, then," and Izuna-kun shifted in an instant. His face did not shift as he simply turned around and began to work on Rin, as Minato stared at Obito's lifeless form.

"Did he say anything?" he asked Izuna-kun, hoping to at least have some answers, and the young Uchiha nodded, much to his surprise.

"Yes, a name," and he perked up at that as his eyes narrowed.

"Who?" he asked, and for the first time, he saw him hesitate before Izuna-kun finally repeated a very unlikely name.

"Madara Uchiha..."

0000

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