82 Chapter 81

Chapter 81

Kaen could see surprise and hesitance among the Kages and the Jincjuriki as they looked at the two former Hokages released from their coffins. They were all old enough to know about them, they might even have fought against them or seen them in action. So, it was no surprise that they suddenly got scared.

Then, an explosion rang through the village from the direction of the gates, snapping everyone out of their stupor. It was quite a big explosion, and Kaen could see smoke rising from it. He didn't know who used it, but he could only hope it was used as a last effort to hold off Iwa's shinobi from chasing after the genin. Kaen had confidence that they would be able to escape this situation.

"Onoki?" Tobirama looked up at the floating Tsuchikage.

"Onoki?" Hashirama did the same. "It can't be. He was short but not that short."

"Old age can do that to you," Tobirama replied as the shinobi surrounding them prepared for an attack, but nobody dared to move first. "I see we are in Iwakagure. For you to call us here, there must be a great reason, Kaen Uchiha."

"They tried to fuck with Konoha," Kaen replied as he took out his bow since he had time. "Now they will know why you don't fuck with Konoha."

"What a miff, but no worries; I erase them in a jiff." Killer Bee was the first to move. Was it arrogance or confidence? It was hard to know with him.

Kaen didn't expect Killer Bee to go after him first since there were two previous Hokage before him, and he didn't expect him to throw one of his swords at him. Coated in lightning chakra, the thrown sword's speed was incredible, and so was its piercing power. But it was only a distraction. Kaen saw a shadow descending from behind him.

Roshi jumped above Kaen, unleashing massive rocks engulfed in lava. But even that was just another distraction, as Kaen Sharingan tracked Killer Bee, who was flanking him at high speed. Still, it will take more than that to surprise Kaen. Kaen didn't even move from his spot. He bent backward, letting the sword fly past him, and shot down the rocks falling on him with his arrows.

After Kaen's arrows hit the rocks, only hot pebbles remained. He caught a handful of them and threw them at Killer Bee. They did nothing against Killer B's sturdy body coated in lightning, but it did distract him for a second. And that all Kaen needed to draw another arrow and aim directly at Killer Bee. With a smile, Kaen let his arrow fly.

"Secret technique: Roar of the West Dragon jutsu."

The arrow was engulfed in fire that quickly spread, turning it into a fire dragon's head that ate anything in its path. Kaen knew that it wouldn't be enough to deal with him, but for now, he stopped him. And since he had to split his attention to Roshi, he couldn't ask for anything more. Roshi was already upon him with his curved kunai, trying to cut Kaen down.

Kaen immediately understood the ultimate plan. They wanted to separate him from the two Hokage, so Kaen let them do that as he evaded Roshi's attacks and backed away. Kaen would have to get away from Hashirama and Tobirama anyway since they weren't really his allies. They still were after him under Orochimaru's control, but since the others didn't know that, he had no reason to tell them.

"Feel the heat, taste the flame. But Killer Bee ain't playin' games!"

"Seriously, isn't this a bit too much?" Kaen should have known that such an attack would not even leave a scratch on Killer Bee since he was able to defend himself with his tailed beast chakra. "Ganging up on me. What am I supposed to do?"

"Surrended," Roshi replied as he still went for Kaen's neck with his curved kunai.

That wasn't happening. From one glance, Kaen noticed that A and Onoki were keeping the two previous Hokage at bay; probably, they noticed that they were not at full strength of their prime. And the rest of the hundreds of shinobi weren't interfering. They were only observing and waiting for a moment before they should move to support their leaders.

It seems Kaen would have to put more pressure on them for the rest of the shinobi to join the fight. Kaen couldn't let them go and chase after his genin after all. He didn't think he would use it so soon. But he was left with little choice. And there was something he wanted to test. Since his Adamantine Sealing Chains absorbed his chakra, Kaen was curious if they could do the same to others.

"With a swing and a slash, I'll bring the thunder." It was increasingly harder to evade Killer Bee's sword slashes as he was coated in his tailed beast chakra, which gave him even more speed and power. "Ain't no shinobi that I can't put under!"

"Oh, shut up," Kaen said, getting annoyed at him. Killer Bee rapped like he didn't need to concentrate on fighting Kaen, and that was unacceptable. "Let's see how you handle this."

A chain from each of Kaen's hands flew at the jinchuriki. Killer Bee, not knowing what they were, tried to cut them with his swords, but they couldn't be cut and wrapped around the swords and arms like snakes. Roshi had no better luck as the chains went through his lava without receiving any damage. Now, both of them were captured in Kaen's chains.

Just materializing the chains exhausted a large portion of Kaen's chakra. He hasn't done this yet, but Kaen is a quick learner. Everyone quickly noticed that the two jinchuriki were captured, so Kaen had to do this quickly before they interfered with it. Controlling his flow of chakra, he stopped it from going into the chains. And as expected, the chains ever-hungry, devoured the tailed beast's chakra since it was denied Kaen's.

It worked in a way. The chains weren't willing to share the chakra with Kaen, though. Still, Kaen managed to weaken Killer Bee and Roshi, at least for a bit. Most importantly, he accomplished his goal of making the rest of the shinobi join the battle. A and Onoki were still holding Hashirama and Tobirama back, and they weren't in a position for Kaen to join in.

While his chains were satisfied with the tailed beast's chakra, Kaen used them to strike the oncoming shinobi. He took out five of them with one chain, and with another, he captured another's leg and threw him at Roshi before the Five-tails jinchuriki recovered, knocking him further away. The arena was now filled with shinobi and powerful jutsu flying around. Too bad no one was here to watch it.

"Got knocked back, took a hit. But I'm back up, ain't that some grit?"

"Dammit."

Killer Bee recovered quicker than Kaen expected and went straight for Kaen's neck. Even though he wasn't covered in his tailed beast chakra, he still had lightning coating his body and swords. Kaen would be fine with that if trees didn't start growing out under his feet. Onoki was thrown in his direction, but he recovered in the middle of a flight.

Catching the arm of a shinobi trying to strike from Kaen's back, Kaen threw him at Killer Bee, who had no choice but to evade since he would harm the shinobi if he hit Killer Bee's lightning-coated body. With one chain, Kaen got Hashirama's arm since he was dangerously approaching him and Onoki, and with another chain, he got Onoki's foot and threw both of them away from him.

Before the chains started to eat away his chakra, Kaen dispersed them and jumped over a boulder, flying at him. Maybe he got more than he thought he could handle. Every one of these shinobi was quite good; the weakest was probably a high chunin. And they were swarming Kaen from all directions, running low on stamina.

Tilting his head, he let a sword pass by him. Then he stepped forward, took Kumo's shinobi's wrist, and broke it before taking the sword and stabbing it at another shinobi. As a lightning bolt flew at Kaen, he threw the sword at it, breaking the jutsu before it reached him. Finally, he used the Kumo shinobi, from whom he took the sword away, as a shield to block a rock spear flying at him.

But that wasn't the end. His eyes blazed as he took in his surroundings. Roshi had joined Onoki in burning the forest that had engulfed half of the arena, and Killer Bee and A cornered Tobirama with their incredible teamwork. Kaen wasn't in a good position either. It was starting to be more and more demanding to take the shinobi out. Jumping over one, he kicked another before he had to evade the third and block the fourth's attack.

"Common! Is that all you can do?" Kaen taunted them, and it worked well as two went for his legs, another three came from behind, and four from the front. "Fire Release: Exploding Body Jutsu."

He waited for the last moment when they were as close to him as they possibly could before his body exploded into bright flames. The explosion obliterated the ones closest to him and blasted the rest away. Kaen wasn't done. He let out a few fireballs in every direction, hitting a few more as he took his almost completely ruined cloak and threw it into the air.

"Ahh!" But these bastards were quite tough, as even while their bodies were on fire, they rushed at Kaen.

"Release."

Kaen wasn't disturbed, though, as the seals on the cloak he threw in the air exploded into clouds of smoke, covering almost the entire arena. Using the cover, Kaen took out his bow and shot at Killer Bee and A, giving Tobirama a moment to use his ninjutsu to summon a massive tsunami that was directed at Kaen. Kaen knelt to the ground and used warding seals to protect himself as the rest of the shinobi surrounding him were knocked away by the water.

Now, having some space around him, planned his next move. Neither Onoki nor A will let him go, not after already losing so much. They needed a victory, and Kaen was their target. Kaen didn't know if the time he got for the genin was enough, but it had to do. He was running low on stamina and chakra. And Onoki and A have gotten used to the reanimated Hokage.

They must have realized that they weren't in their prime and had limits even with inexhaustible chakra and regeneration. As much as Kaen wanted to take the Hokage with him, he didn't see a possibility to do so. He would have to leave them for Onoki and A to seal them. But they alone weren't enough to distract the rest of the shinobi and let Kaen escape.

"I had enough!" Onoki was totally pissed. He couldn't use his most powerful jutsu as too many of his shinobi were in the way. "Earth Release: Earth Upheaval Jutsu."

Kaen barely had time to react as Onoki lifted his arms, and the ground below him started to shake. The ground of the whole arena started to crack and splinter, and it was lifted into the air. That was some serious power, and Kaen had no defense against it as he, with the ground, was lifted into the air. Before he could even plan his next move to counter the jutsu, Kaen was hit hard in the face and thrown to another boulder lifted in the air.

In the spot he was before, now was standing A with lightning coating his entire body. He was even faster than before. He was probably, too, not too happy with how things were going. And there, Kaen thought he had already seen everything they had to offer. It seemed he underestimated them once again.

"Fall!"

As Kaen was getting up to his bearing, he suddenly felt the gravity working once again. Onoki had stopped using his gravity jutsu and let everything fall back to the ground. While A used his speed to climb through the boulders and Killer Bee used his tentacles to do the same, Roshi was with Onoki, both of them still floating. Kaen, Hashirama, and Tobirama were left to fall and soon be buried under the boulders.

"It won't be that easy, old man!"

Kaen used the rest of his chakra to conjure his chains and threw them at Roshi, who was a bigger target. Roshi was a tough guy and didn't budge from his position as chains wrapped around him. But Kaen used him to pull himself up and get above the boulders falling. Too bad Roshi didn't use his tailed beast chakra, so Kaen's chains couldn't absorb it.

As a cloud of dust came from the fall of countless boulders, Kaen let go of his chains and fell to the cover. He didn't see Tobirama, but knowing him, he was preparing to attack. The question was who he was going to attack. Hashirama was probably fine as he could defend himself with his Wood Release. Kaen was the only one in bad condition as he was running on fumes, even if his injuries were minimal.

But there was no rest for the wicked. Kaen felt immense heat coming from above him. Lava was falling on him, and he had to run for his life. He evaded the blobs of lava falling on him, but Kaen knew it wasn't the end. Since now, there was no one to get hurt aside from him, Onoki used his signature jutsu, and Kaen didn't have anywhere to run.

"Particle Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu."

"Not on my watch," Kaen aimed his bow straight at Onoki as he evaded lava falling on him. "Secret technique: Piercing Shot."

With lightning running through the arrow, Kaen shot it at Onoki. The arrow was too fast, and Onoki had no choice but to cancel his jutsu and had to dodge. A came after Kaen a second later, but trees rose from the ground, capturing him and pinning him down. Killer Bee ran to cut down the trees, but his legs were captured by Tobirama, who emerged from the ground.

Kaen continued to shoot at Onoki, not letting him rest even for a moment. Since the arena was mostly clean of everyone else, he had all the time in the world. Even if the other shinobi wanted to interfere, they couldn't get through the countless trees that now surrounded the arena, making it a perfect place for Kaen to continue attacking.

"Not so fast," Roshi burned through the trees as he came after Kaen.

Kaen evaded his attacks, and he didn't use his tailed beast chakra as he knew Kaen would use his chains to absorb it. He wasn't as fast as A, but he used his lava ninjutsu quite well not to leave Kaen a chance to counter him. To Kaen, it didn't matter. With his eyes, he could see through the attacks and still managed to shoot at Onoki, not letting him use his ultimate attack.

"Oh," Kaen ran out of arrows, and Onoki noticed it, too.

"Get out," Onoki only gave one warning.

A and Killer Bee were already struggling against Hashirama and Torbirama, so they had no qualms about retreating. Roshi spewed out lava at Kaen, making him evade it and get to the near vicinity of the previous Hokage. As Kaen was ready to get out of Onoki's attack, the trees engulfed him, dragging him under the ground with Hashirama. The last thing he saw was light coming from Onoki's hands before darkness took him.

…

"The First and Second Hokage still should be able to regenerate if the information I have regarding Edo Tensei jutsu is correct," A said as he landed next to Onoki, who was catching his breath. "We need to seal them, but at least Kaen Uchiha is gone."

"From the depths of struggle emerged the victor, Killer Bee, unparalleled rapper and shinobi extraordinaire!" Killer Bee danced on the smooth ground that was left after Onoki's attack. "Ya, feel me?"

"You are celebrating too early, Eight-tails," Tobirama replied, catching Killer Bee's feet from under the ground again. "All your jutsus are familiar to me. I have spent countless hours devising on how I should counter them if I ever faced them. But I have to commend you, Onoki. Yours Dust Release is the only jutsu that I have to run from."

As he emerged from the ground and pulled Killer Bee to it, Tobirama was missing half of his torso. But with one arm, he was able to block an attack and use the force from the attack to propel himself towards tired and weakened Onoki. If Roshi weren't there to protect Onoki, Iwa would have lost their Tsuchikage. Regaining his strength, Onoki didn't risk it and lifted himself back into the air.

"You buried yourself even further than the reach of my jutsu," Onoki said as he looked at the hole Tobirama had crawled out of.

"Like I said, yours is the only jutsu I had to run from," Tobirama replied as A severed his last arm and legs before he could regenerate. "Though I quite worried now for my village. This war will be a bloody one, won't it?"

"It will be like any other war," A replied, using his limited knowledge of Fuinjutsu to seal Tobirama. "But this time, Konoha will lose. We will strike before they can even prepare, and without their new Hokage, they will fall."

"You might kill our shinobi and destroy our village," Hashirama's head was pushed out of the ground, but it wasn't him who spoke. "But the will of fire will never die."

"Can't you think of anything different?" Hashirama asked as his head flew at A and exploded.

Kaen had the same idea as Tobirama. As the wood rose from the ground and grabbed Kaen before dragging him down, Kaen didn't resist. But he had to unseal his external chakra network to defend himself from being crushed by Hashirama's wood cacoon. Kaen burned the wood down and used his chains to rip Hashirama's head off before attaching an explosive tag to it.

Kaen was quite lucky that Hashirama would pull him down. Onoki's jutsu obliterated most of Hashirama's wood above Kaen, so he could only concentrate on what was below him. And he was once again lucky that the ground was loose and easier to navigate than it was usually. If not for his limited oxygen, Kaen would have tried to escape by making a tunnel underground.

As expected, A was unscathed by the explosion, and he retreated with Tobirama's body. Kaen used the distraction to climb out of the hole made by Onoki's jutsu. To only see the whole area was surrounded by shinobi. Probably every shinobi in the village was here right now. That was good. It meant that the genin must have escaped safely.

"You lost," Kaen proclaimed as he looked at Onoki flying above him. "I am still alive. Do you really expect to win this war when you can't even kill me? This is your first loss and your last chance to rethink your plans."

"You won't escape!" Onoki replied with veins popping out on his forehead.

"One of the two things will happen. Either I die, or your village gets destroyed," Kaen replied with a smirk. "Haven't you noticed that my arrows haven't yet fallen? Did you really think you dodged them without me letting you dodge them? I don't miss, old man. Now watch as the stars fall upon your village."

The arrows that Kaen had shot down started to fall with each second, increasing speed. As the first arrow fell, it created an explosion that destroyed a street, and dozens more arrows were falling. The veins of Onoki's head were about to burst as he looked at those arrows. With the rest of his strength, he tried to manipulate gravity to stop the arrows in the air.

But it wasn't enough. Some were just out of his reach. Killer Bee and Roshi split up and, using their tailed beast transformation, tanked the arrows, with each one taking a large chunk of their chakra. Only A was left, and he was busy sealing up Tobirama and Hashirama was regaining his full body too. He had no chance of taking on Kaen right now.

"Remember this sight because it won't be the first time your village is this close to destruction."

The Shinobi surrounding the area had to choose to leave and defend the village from the destructive arrows or stay and stop Kaen from running away. Iwa shinobi chose to defend their home, while Kumo shinobi stayed and blocked Kaen's path. Any other shinobi might not be able to get out of this situation, but Kaen wasn't any other shinobi.

"Are you watching, A?" Kaen asked the silent Raikage. "Your village will be the next one."

Kaen exploded into smoke, revealing it to be nothing but a shadow clone. The real one disguised himself as one of the Iwa shinobi and ran through the streets of the village. Nobody had a chance to look at him more attentively as panic was settled upon the village. By the time he was discovered, he was already over the village's walls, running into the mountains.

Rather than try to run straight back to Konoha, Kaen went for the mountains outside Iwa. He needed to find a place to hide and rest before he passed out from exhaustion. To create those arrows took a lot of him. Even though he barely knew the mountains, they were still the best place to find a hiding spot. He needed to find a place before his external chakra ran out and left him defenseless.