59 Hard love part one
New chapter is here and we get to see what Ashina was up to while Naruto, Rin, and the other Genin were locked in their respective fights.
This would've been 29k words long if it wasn't split.
A truly massive thing is revealed, something I've hinted at from Ashina's POV a couple times and a few other parts. I'll give my reasoning at the bottom of part two. The reasoning is very long.
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Right after Ashina ran out of the arena.
'Good thing my clone mapped out the area.' Ashina thought, rushing through Konoha's red light district as The Raikage and both Kumo Jinchuriki pursued him.
The Raikage didn't get his denseheaded self down fast enough to intercept Itachi, so the man was chasing him instead.
Leaping up to the roof of a building, Ashina made multiple Kage bunshin and triggered the storage scrolls his clone had filled with water from the river during the night and planted different ones throughout the village in preparation for the invasion and when he severed the connection to Orochimaru.
The water exploded out and he barked an order at his bunshin, setting a precursor of his main plan to keep Konoha out of the way of his vengeance/Self appointed mission in motion.
Each of his Kage bunshin manipulated different portions of the water and sent it at the three Shinobi pursuing him, most of the Jutsu being water dragons.
The 'herd?' of dragons rushed forward, tearing apart a few buildings in the process, and crashed into his three pursuers, the Raikage getting broadsided by one.
Shouting at his clones to continue to delay the three, Ashina jumped from one building to the next, trying to reach the temple.
Jumping down as he saw a direct path through a street to get to the temple, Ashina saw a purple haired woman holding off several Oto Shinobi, multiple bodies convulsing around her from what appeared to be some kind of poison.
'She's marked by Orochimaru.' Ashina realized, sensing the foul chakra of the snake sinking its fangs into her chakra.
The handful of Konoha Shinobi with her spotted him and charged, kunai drawn.
'Idiots.' Ashina thought, shifting water chakra around him and vanishing from sight.
Ashina rushed straight at them, not caring about being quiet. His fist struck the face of one, knocking her out cold. Another was caught in a headlock when he twisted and jumped, wrapping his legs around his head and rotating his body weight to bring him down. The last barely dodged the point blank water Jutsu he spat at him and retreated, catching the attention of the trench coat wearing woman.
With a growl of exertion, she broke through the defense of the Oto kunoichi she was fighting and buried a kunai hilt deep in her temple, the woman collapsing in a boneless heap.
"You have got to be kidding me!" She shouted at the remaining Konoha Shinobi, "You can't take down one guy?!"
Ashina fought the urge to roll his eyes when the other Oto nin looked relieved at his arrival, assuming he was an ally.
"I'm not here to save you, Oto nin," He growled, manifesting a golden spear, "I'm here to purge your kind from this village."
Without hesitation, Ashina blitzed towards them, spear raised.
Vaulting over the shocked still woman, Ashina pressed his spear into the ground and flipped forward, spinning his body like a top as he made a half seal, shooting several water senbon out of his mouth.
The only ones struck were the Oto nin he aimed for, the nearly half dozen of them falling to the ground with several deep wounds from his attack.
One managed to rush towards him and slashed at him with a sword, but Ashina shifted out of the way in a blur of movement, swung upward diagonally, taking the man's leg off mid thigh, and swung to the right, taking his head clean off. Ashina then turned back around and narrowed his eyes.
As he got the feedback of his pursuers overpowering his bunshin, he looked to the woman.
"Be sure to stay alive. I plan to rip that brand off your neck." He then leaped up in the air, making a single hand seal as he saw a version one Bijuu cloak surrounding the Nibi Jinchuriki.
Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu.
A dragon formed from the water on the ground and shot towards the blonde, who shot a fireball at it in response. The resulting explosion shook the ground and caused mist to form throughout the whole block, hiding everything.
Focusing with his sensory abilities, Ashina felt the Konoha kunoichi rush towards him, her chakra slightly stained by Orochimaru's.
Without a single care in the world, Ashina made a single half seal, molding the water on the ground into several senbon, sending them at her.
She managed to twist and evade in an impressive display of flexibility and agility, still running at him unscathed.
'Be that way.' Ashina thought, making another half seal to make multiple Mizu bunshin from the water beneath them, the six copies of him managing to trip her up.
The kunoichi swung at them with her kunai and sent a stream of snakes at him from her sleeve, trying to bind him.
He let them wrap around him and pulsed his bloodline ability through the tenketsu points of his chest, shredding them.
A growl of rage escaped her and she tore through his Mizu bunshin, taking a punch to the face from one and a couple minor cuts.
Lazily flicking his hand to form a blade, Ashina diverted her stab, kicked at her gut, only to be avoided as her spine seemed to contort so she could flow around it.
"A female Orochimaru at last." Ashina laughed, his opponent's chakra flaring in rage.
"I am not him!" She growled, attacking him in a blur of movement to the outside viewer.
With no time to waste, Ashina deflected all the attacks in a blur of blade movement, punched her in the throat, and drove his other fist into her gut, driving the air from her lungs.
She collapsed forward and fell to her knees, coughing like she were choking.
"If I wanted you dead, I would have removed your head from your body." He said, twisting her to have her back facing him. He then tore her trench coat away to try and get to the mark on her neck.
The woman struggled in his grip and pulled out a kunai, stabbing at him. Ashina took the hit to his chest and twisted slightly to yank the kunai out of her grip, the weapon still lodged in his chest.
"That was rude." He said, looking at the now exposed mark.
'This is your pride and joy of seals, Orochimaru?' Ashina thought incredulously. 'This is your insurance policy on not staying dead? It looks like I was right about the bleeding effect to modify this poor child's chakra network. She feels almost like you did all those years ago.'
"I wish I could say this'll only hurt a bit," Ashina said truthfully, holding her in place with an ironclad grip, "But that would make me a liar."
As he went to press his fingers on the mark, another fireball came from the end of the street where the Kumo trio were held up with his bunshin.
Lifting his hand up to make a half seal, he sent a blast of water out of his mouth to extinguish it, mainly to ensure the girl didn't get incinerated. The two jutsu clashed and a snap hiss sound echoed down the street, the water being turned into steam.
Said girl that was protected by him, being a complete and total sweetheart, thanked him by burying a kunai hilt deep into his groin and tried to roll away.
Having felt no pain at all, Ashina sent a water whip at her, pulling her back to him.
"I'm going to cut your balls off and shove them down your damn throat!" She screamed at him, brown eyes blazing in anger as she kept punching him in the gut.
Ashina tightened the whip of water around her, pulled the kunai out of his crotch and stabbed himself where his heart would have been, causing her eyes to widen.
"I'm under a Henge." He said flatly, dropping the illusion that hid the cracks and the blackness of his eyes.
The woman's eyes widened in shock and no small amount of fear.
"W-who are you?" She asked fearfully, her voice shaking in horror.
Ashina couldn't help but laugh at the question he had been asked multiple times by not just her, but others since he had been actively trying to kill Orochimaru and protect his grandchildren.
"I already told Itachi when I desecrated multiple graves yesterday." Ashina laughed, assuming the explosives and seals he placed at certain graves didn't go unnoticed. Sakumo didn't deserve to have his soul dragged from the afterlife to fight for Orochimaru or others in the future, so he sealed his remains in a scroll that could only be opened by Sakumo's blood relatives.
"Ah, yes, Itachi is here," Ashina said as the woman tried to break out of his grip, "and he plans to target Jinchuriki."
"I'll fucking kill him before I let him get to Rin or Naruto." She growled, causing Ashina to look closer at her.
"You know my grandchildren?" He asked, smiling as he thought of them.
It seemed like fate chose that time for his two bunshin sent to the Hyuga compound to pop, giving him their memories.
'You worthless simpletons.: He scowled. His bunshin were supposed to make sure the Hyuga were neutralized. They were the only ones who could see through the technique he was going to use.
"As much as I'd like to hear about the grandchildren I wish to speak with, I'll need to make this quick." He then pressed his fingers into her mark, causing it to flare.
She started screaming like a brand was being applied to her, her chakra and body thrashing in his grasp. The screaming had him gritting is teeth as he cursed himself for not doing it faster to spare her this level of pain.
'I can feel you, Orochimaru.' He pulsed chakra into the seal, twisting it to begin the process of ripping Orochimaru's essence out.
Before Ashina could begin extracting it, he felt the last of his bunshin sent to delay get killed and the Raikage came rushing towards him.
"Where's Itachi?!" He roared, his arm outstretched to grab him as he flashed towards him.
'This just gets better and better.' Ashina seethed, kicking the writhing woman aside.
"East side!" Ashina roared back, stabbing at the Raikage's arm to ward him off, "Now back off or I'll rip the cat out of her container again!"
Ay shifted out of the way of the slash and pivoted to shoot back towards his two subordinates, the female one sending looks that varied between terror and rage at him.
"Come here, Neko-chan," Ashina grinned viciously, daring the newest Jinchuriki of the Nibi to attack him, "Does hers want a bewwy wub?" He wiggled his fingers and pulsed some chakra in them, making them glow.
The last time he touched the stomach of a Nibi Jinchuriki, it had rather... explosive results.
The moral: Don't let an Uzumaki pet a cat belly.
The blonde stepped forward like she was going to fight him, but B put his hand on her shoulder.
"Stay out of my way and I won't kill any of you," Ashina said, preparing to reach the temple, "I'm going to kill Orochimaru and you can have fun killing Itachi and his partner. Someone is currently fighting Roshi on the outskirts."
The someone currently fighting Roshi had extremely large reserves. Enough where Ashina barely had to focus to catch a glimpse of it.
"What the hell is an Iwa nin doing here?" Ay demanded, not even thinking of the possibility of that.
"Beats me." Ashina shrugged, preparing to move again. "Try not to get killed."
Ashina Shunshined away, trying to get to the temple.
After tearing his way through Oto and Suna nin after crossing multiple streets that were where constant fighting was occurring, Ashina reached the temple, a smile on his face.
The smile melted off his face when several signatures closed in on him, one specifically like an inferno raced towards him. Before he could even throw up his arm to stop it, he saw a green blur fly towards him.
"Dynamic Entry!" A voice shouted, a kick striking his face so hard he felt his head twist 720 degrees.
He got launched across the street from the momentum of the kick, skipping like a stone several times and crashing into a building with so much force that the wall shattered, loud shrieks assaulting his hearing.
Ashina looked up and realized he had smashed into the village brothel, judging by the skantily clad women cowering under the bar and the scent of perfume.
"Ladies." Ashina said politely, reaching up to his twisted head. "I'd look away." He then twisted his neck around twice to relocate the artificial vertebrae, a loud crunching noise and feeling vibrating in his head.
After the shrieks of horror quieted down, Ashina rose up and marched back outside through the hole he made, positively livid.
"Where are you, you spandex wearing sombitch!" Ashina roared, a chakra blade in hand.
A man in green spandex appeared in front of him, a visible chakra halo around him.
"A Gate opener," Ashina tilted his head mockingly, "I never did manage to create a stable seal matrix to plant on someone and get it to work without burning the recipient to ash."
The man maintained a ready stance, his hands raised in a proper taijutsu form.
"I know who you are, Uzumaki Ashina." The man bowed respectfully, "But you are a puppet for Orochimaru and I, Maito Gai, shall help free you."
Ashina growled under his breath.
Of course Hiruzen warned his Jonin about him being resurrected, but not that there was a plan to break his connection to Orochimaru.
And Maito Gai obviously knew nothing of how an Edo Tensei behaved when its will was subverted.
"If it isn't one thing, it's three." Ashina rushed towards the man, needing to get to the temple and grab both masks.
The two clashed and Ashina was surprised by the man's speed of movement. It wasn't the same as the Raikage, but it was extremely fast.
The two exchanged blows, each of them dodging the hits because of either a chakra blade being slipped in or the possible strength could knock them back.
Several punches were blocked by Ashina, his body arching back to avoid a sidekick from the obviously skilled taijutsu fighter.
Ashina countered with his own offensive, leaping over Gai's head and swinging a chakra blade at his shoulder. Gai pivoted on his leg and a kunai flashed in his hand, deflecting the attack. Ashina manifested another blade and twirled in a deadly dance of golden death, trying to bring the man down.
Maito Gai managed to avoid or check most of the attacks by grabbing Ashina's forearm or punching the inside of it, only being clipped twice throughout the sequence of attacks.
Ashina forced a scissor kick away from him, causing Gai to plant his hands into the ground to twist his body and leap over Ashina, swinging at his head with his heel.
Ashina twisted to the side and backed away, stabbing forward with an intentional overreach to get a slight opening and let himself get kicked in the chest, opening up the chance for him to swing a chakra blade in his off hand at Gai's leg. Gai seemed to predict it and twisted his entire body, swinging his left leg to divert the chakra blade as his other struck Ashina's chest.
The Uzumaki's eyes widened in shock and he was propelled up in the air, even further away from his prize.
Twisting in the air to face Gai, Ashina blurred through a constant stream of hand seals, shooting large water projectiles at Gai.
Gai ran to avoid the attacks as they impacted the street he was on, the stones cracking from the force of the water striking them, and leaped forward, spinning to jump over some debris in the street. Every attack was narrowly avoided and the Konoha Jonin rushed towards where Ashina was going to land.
Ashina felt his rage at every complication grow. For decades, he had prepared. For decades, he had studied the mysteries of chakra to discover physical evidence concerning the truth about the Uchiha and their greatest secret; a secret that he only recently discovered evidence that the Senju may have also shared with their rivals.
"I will not be stopped!" Ashina roared, making a Kage bunshin and having it turn invisible with orders to stay out of the way.
Ashina felt a gravity seal on one of the walls of the buildings and he grinned as Gai blitzed towards him.
"Mark him!" Ashina barked at his clone, making a hand seal to activate the tag.
All it took to modify Naruto's seals to respond to his chakra was to pulse a small amount of chakra into a specific point of the trigger for it to respond to his chakra. It also helped that his grandson had chakra similar to his.
The gravity seal activated just as Gai reached him, both being caught in it as the building the seal was stuck to groaned as stress was put on the wood and stones. Ashina was more prepared for it and managed to wrap his arms around Gai's leg that had spun around to hit him before the two men fell to the ground.
Gai gritted his teeth and tried to break free, but Ashina held a death grip on his leg as he wrapped his own legs around Gai's arms.
"Your 'Dynamic Entry' death kick hurt," Ashina growled at the man, "And I'm supposed to be dead!"
Ashina shouted towards his clone to deactivate the seal and mark Gai in the one area that wasn't covered by that infernal seal resistant fabric that made up his spandex.
His head.
The gravity seal deactivated as the clone Shunshined straight towards them, slamming his hand on the crown of Gai's head to mark him.
The seal took hold and the chakra being pumped into his tenketsu from the opening of the multiple Gates was funneled into the seal, pulling him from his physical state.
"My strength." Gai said incredulously, Ashina pushing him away as the man was silent in shock at his technique being disabled.
"Try to break that seal, and your head will explode." Ashina said flatly, pushing his sensing out.
The seal would only work for 10 minutes at a maximum before it crumbled. Few seals that are applied like that will function for long, even less when the Inner Gates were in use. He just needed Gai to stay out of his way for a short window.
The invasion force in this section of the village had been neutralized, judging by the lower number of chakra flashes and the signatures closing in on him.
'Why does the emotional state of these ANBU feel off?' Ashina wondered, preparing to tear his way through the Shinobi in front of him, Konoha nin or not.
The masked individuals in front of him were a Yamanaka and Aburame, judging by how their chakra felt.
"I'm not in the mood for this!" Ashina shouted, making several Kage bunshin.
The two, with several other masked Shinobi, charged at him or sent a mixture of fire and wind jutsu at him.
Ashina blurred through hand seals and pooled water in his gut.
Suiton: Suijinheki.
He spat water out from left to right and a wall of water formed that encompassed the entire street, stopping the storm of Jutsu crashing towards him. As the water withstood the onslaught, Ashina turned invisible and ran, ordering his bunshin to distract them.
More than one managed to race towards him and he bit back a snarl as he jumped up as he ran down a market street, grabbing ahold of a pole. He spun until he let go and was sent flying towards the three that pursued him, roaring as he pulsed chakra into his hands.
He crashed straight into one and cratered the road slightly, driving several punches into the man's masked face.
The two others rushed at him to force him off, but Ashina almost absentmindedly made a hand seal as he punched forward, shaping the water on the ground into Mizu bunshin to cover the spots where he could sense the two.
His copies delayed them long enough for him to drive a chakra blade into the Shinobi's eye hole in the mask, his opponent falling still.
Ashina made three hand seals and pulled the water from the bunshin towards him, using an original Jutsu.
Suiton: Rotating Water Dance.
The water spun around him at a velocity that had it screeching, finally exploding out in extremely sharp blades of water. The water tore the two completely to shreds and tore chunks out of the ground around his feet, the buildings around him having deep lacerations in the stone from the high velocity water tearing into them.
Ashina shook his head and he ran once more.
He Shunshined in a straight line to a separate street and ran towards the temple, his sensing picking up nothing.
He practically roared in rage as he felt something slippery slither across the ground seconds later, chasing after him.
'Nara!' He growled, running as fast as his body could handle. Just as he began to outpace the shadow, multiple signatures came in and converged on him.
A giant, meaty ball of Shinobi came rolling at him, followed by several Hyuga.
A compressed ball of water from Ashina's mouth struck the Akamichi dead on, causing him to veer off course and smash through an abandoned food stand. The Hyuga were shouting where he was at as he didn't have complete surprise with his water refraction jutsu.
A Branch member, judging by the mark on his head, got in his way and lashed out with a Juken strike at his throat, trying to close of the tenketsu between the brain and body, no doubt.
Honestly not caring, Ashina punched directly at the hand, feeling the tenketsu in one of his fingers close as his fist broke the fingers and hand of the Hyuga.
'Idiot.' He thought as he jumped over the Hyuga and kicked him in the back to be propelled further.
Still in the air, Ashina went through hand seals again, forcing the tenketsu in his hand to violently open.
Suiton: Suijinheki.
He twisted to plant his hands as he hit the ground, somersaulting forward and blasting water behind him, forming another wall to cover his back.
Ashina rolled with the momentum and kept on running, remaining invisible to the others.
To catch a Hyuga with it, he needed them to have not seen him as he used it. It left an extremely faint outline only seeable with the Byakagun and he knew from experience that a Hyuga could overlook it if caught off guard.
He could see the temple, so very close.
Activating the temple's seals to trigger them, he had his implanted seal in the matrix shut off while everything else activated, causing a catastrophic failure.
The seals vented all the chakra in them as a safety measure to stop them from exploding, causing a flash of chakra that acted as an ocular flashbang against both Uchiha and Hyuga.
He heard the Hyuga shout in pain and the others that got around the water wall lost their guides to see him, his path now open.
Kicking the door down and waiting for the warm feeling of fire chakra to build up from one of the pursuing Shinobi, Ashina made two hand seals and kneaded oil in his gut.
Suiton: Water Oil Bullet.
He shot the flammable liquid out of his mouth and immediately turned, rushing towards the wall of masks, ignoring the footsteps of three men that entered some time ago and the crack in the floor.
The explosion from the fire jutsu and oil had him grinning in triumph, his fingers now wrapping around the mask he needed.
Putting it on, Uzumaki Ashina felt Nature chakra flood into him, his body feeling more natural than it had since his resurrection.
He could almost delude himself into thinking he was actually alive again from how his chakra felt with the Senjutsu enhancement.
Grabbing another mask, he kept it tucked in to his chest and used a Senjutsu enhanced jutsu with his other hand.
Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu.
The blast of water would have been more aptly called a tidal wave from the volume of it, the force of it tearing the wall away from the temple and gave him an exit.
His sensing was so much more enhanced after the influx of Nature chakra that he could count all the current battles between S-rank Shinobi and the Jinchuriki. Roshi was currently locked in combat with somebody with Bijuu level reserves, with Itachi closing in, a fragment of his chakra over a couple miles away with the Ichibi Jinchuriki. Killer B, Yugito, and the Raikage were almost there, causing Ashina to smirk.
But Naruto was on his own, a Kaguya, by the feel of the chakra, was closing in on his location. Another chakra signature was next to the Kaguya, but the other didn't have the same echo of Orochimaru's chakra.
'He will need help.' Ashina thought grimly, making more than one bunshin souped up on Nature chakra to assist his grandson if need be.
Ashina made several other Kage bunshin and sent them to different corners of the village, each one holding a massive amount of nature chakra to manipulate the water in the storage scrolls he planted more easily.
Oto and Suna were about to find out what the hellscape he made during his last remaining days alive in Uzu was like. A mist that was laced with Nature chakra to conceal his invisible clones, with plenty of standing water to thicken the mist and to make Mizu bunshin to stab them from behind as they flailed around blindly.
Ashina was pulled from that line of thought when he felt something in his sensing.
Hiruzen's chakra was extremely faint and Hashirama was right next to him, Orochimaru's chakra no longer staining it.
'Well done, old man.' Ashina thought as he raced towards Jiraiya who was locked in a fight with Orochimaru on the south side of the village.
The Snake Sannin needed to be killed first. Roshi would be second.
And Uchiha Sasuke would be the third one killed.
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Hiruzen collapsed in a boneless heap, coughing up blood as his back struck the ground.
'I did it.' He managed to think through his clouded thoughts, the whole world spinning.
He'd managed to sever the connection Orochimaru had on the Shodai, the man's eyes looking at his in horror at what he had done.
"Hiruzen!" Hashirama exclaimed, trying to help his student.
"It's," Hiruzen coughed, glancing down at the gaping wound in his side, "It's alright, Sensei."
"No no no," Hashirama pressed his hands on the wound that he inflicted on the old man, "You're not going to die."
Hiruzen had demanded that Jiraiya pursue Orochimaru instead of helping him subdue Hashirama. Orochimaru needed to be killed to protect the village and Jiraiya was likely the only one who could kill Orochimaru in single combat other than him.
But Hiruzen's body had failed him as he and Enma fought to defeat Hashirama. He overestimated what his aged body could do and Hashirama had slowly started to take the edge in their fight, his endless stamina being his greatest advantage.
Enma had stopped his transformation and reverted into his normal form to assist in taijutsu and hold Hashirama in place as Hiruzen placed the mark, but the Shodai had managed to break away at the last second as Hiruzen had his hand out.
With a soft murmur of 'Victory, at any cost', Hiruzen had lunged forward with the tag given to him in hand, slamming it into Hashirama's head right as his Sensei had driven a knife hand into his abdomen, sinking elbow deep through.
And that was how Hiruzen ended up in this situation, weak and tired, with his mentor frantically trying to save him.
"You're not going to die yet, old man." Hashirama said, his hand glowing green without making a sign.
Enma was staying back several feet, pacing back and forth in worry.
As Hashirama pressed his hand on the wound, Hiruzen started groaning in pain.
The blood that was flowing out at a frightful pace began to slow, the burning agony of the injury being less horrific.
Hashirama kept it up until his chakra started fluctuating, causing a spurt of blood to come from the wound.
Hiruzen bit into his cheek to prevent from crying out, his vision spinning from the pain.
"My current state is making it difficult to keep the healing stable." Hashirama said worriedly, pulling his hand away, "I can't think of any other way to slow the bleeding without causing more damage."
"Cauterize it." Hiruzen moaned, not wanting to die just yet.
'Asuma, I'm sorry we haven't seen eye to eye. I should have tried to be a better father after Biwako died. I'll fight to live to see you marry and have children of your own.' Hiruzen made a silent prayer to anyone listening that he could live through this. He knew the injury probably destroyed something, but he wasn't ready to die. His rest could wait.
Hashirama nodded and extended his left hand towards Hiruzen's mouth.
"Bite down, Saru." Hashirama said softly, "This will hurt."
Hiruzen gave his mentor a tearful look and bit down on his hand, preparing for the pain he'd only felt once when he was in his early twenties.
The Shodai made a half seal with his right hand, manipulating his chakra into a fire nature and ignited his hand, pushing into Hiruzen's side.
Hiruzen spasmed and screamed as he bit down, his teeth sinking into the reanimation's hand.
The sizzle of his own flesh and the scent was awful to his senses, but not as much as the pain he felt from his insides being lit on fire.
The last thing Hiruzen saw before he passed out from the pain was Hashirama's face breaking out into a smile, his voice reassuring.
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"Get back here, coward!" Jiraiya roared, breathing deeply as he clashed with his former best friend once again miles away from Konoha. There fight had dragged them out far enough where he was beginning to struggle with finding specific signatures.
Not since Hanzo had Jiraiya had such a hard fight. Orochimaru was just as slippery as before and it took every ounce of knowledge and experience he had accumulated for over 40 years to keep himself from being killed by the snake Sannin.
He was still in Sage mode, but he could feel the burn in his tenketsu and he had just summoned Gamabunta after Orochimaru summoned Manda, the two going at it.
'Maybe I should have let Kakashi stay with me.' Jiraiya thought for a moment, but shook that thought aside almost as quickly as the thought had hit him.
Jiraiya wasn't a sensor, but Sage mode gave him sensory abilities. He had felt Rin's chakra and Naruto's, and they were in separate areas.
Naruto seemed to be fighting someone with strange chakra that was marked by Orochimaru's in a way that was similar to Mitarashi Anko's. But Rin was even worse. Four signatures had been closing in on her and the Genin she was with and Jiraiya had demanded that Kakashi go to them to help them while he would finish Orochimaru.
Jiraiya didn't care about himself at this point. Naruto and Rin needed to be protected at all cost, especially Naruto. He had been wrong about himself, Nagato, and Minato. But he refused to be wrong about Naruto.
"No matter how many times you kill me," Orochimaru chuckled, spitting out some blood as he held his sword in a defensive position, "I will always return."
He'd 'killed' Orochimaru three times, but the snake had come back each time by crawling out of the broken carcass that was his body, a new one free of injury.
"I know you can't keep it up." Jiraiya replied, his fists raised to finish the fight, "That little vomit technique of yours eats through chakra like an Akamichi at a buffet."
Jiraiya heard Orochimaru scoff at his statement.
"And I always wondered why Ashina deemed you his favorite between the two of us and shared some of his seal techniques." Orochimaru said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Because I was the most honest about who I was and am." Jiraiya replied sharply, his eyes fixed on Orochimaru's.
"You fear death," Jiraiya said, "And I truly wish Sarutobi-sensei and I had the strength to kill you years ago. You are the monster you are because we let it happen."
Orochimaru simply laughed.
"Are you proud of your creation, Jiraiya?" Orochimaru smirked, baring his teeth slightly.
That question almost hurt Jiraiya. Orochimaru would never understand the things Jiraiya would have done during the wars to protect his best friend.
"I was always proud to be your friend, Orochimaru," Jiraiya said to the man who had been someone he would have died for, "Everytime you scolded me for being an idiot or a pervert, I cherished those moments. The stupid things I convinced you to do when we were kids."
Jiraiya's fists clenched.
"But we are no longer children." Jiraiya said coldly, "I will kill you and I will ensure that you will never sink your fangs into Naruto or Rin!"
His coat stuck to him from sweat and he had multiple bruises all across his body, but he was still in fighting shape and was not going to back down.
"Then show me your resolve, Jiraiya." Orochimaru hissed, rushing towards him and slashing at his face.
Jiraiya ducked under the swing by Orochimaru, lashing out with a kick at Orochimaru's ribs.
The two men exchanged punches and slashes, Jiraiya coating his hands with Senjutsu enhanced chakra to stop the hits from the Sword of Kusanagi cutting through his hands.
A quick substitution with an Earth clone that was bisected by Orochimaru had Jiraiya sinking into the ground, blurring through hand seals.
Kaiton: Goryuka no Jutsu.
Jiraiya blasted a fire dragon out of his mouth from the earth, tearing clean through towards where he could sense Orochimaru.
He rose from the ground and sensed that Orochimaru had leaped up into the air with the assist of chakra, making hand seals to cast his own jutsu.
Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu.
Orochimaru blasted a sizable amount of water from his mouth, preventing the fire dragon from incinerating him, but the Senjutsu assisted Jutsu still left burns on his legs, his pants blackened and smoking.
As the one Sannin touched the ground, Jiraiya went through hand seals again, making two earth clones, and did so again, firing a fire jutsu straight at Orochimaru.
Kaiton: Ryuka no Jutsu.
A more concentrated version of the Grand Fireball Jutsu, the one Jiraiya used had him pinpoint shooting fireballs at Orochimaru as he rushed towards him, blade in hand.
Orochimaru ran through the hail of fire and either struck them with his sword or used his inhuman flexibility to avoid the others, clashing with the bunshin Jiraiya made.
Pulling the seals he had prepared ever since he had learned from Hiruzen that Orochimaru was going to attack the village, Jiraiya flung them towards the area around Orochimaru, who just killed his last earth clone.
Another set of hand seals and another fireball aimed at Orochimaru later, Jiraiya activated the triangle of seals and the snake Sannin sank under the ground after making a single hand sign.
The seals activated and the fireball was held in place right above where Orochimaru was at, each seal trying to pull on the condensed ball of fire chakra and seal it.
Making another set of hand seals, Jiraiya pressed his hand into the ground with a shout.
Doton: Doryuha. (Earth Flow Wave).
Jiraiya felt where Orochimaru tried to shift away and clenched his chakra around the Earth where his presence was, shooting it up in a spike and twisting it to throw Orochimaru into the suspended fireball.
Jiraiya saw as the snake Sannin wrapped a cocoon of snakes around him as he was flung into the fire, the seals powering down after holding the Jutsu in place.
The smoke cleared and Orochimaru was standing, scorch marks on his shirt and parts of his face and hair burnt, his eyes flashing a golden yellow.
The snakes protected him and were in an ashen pile around him, clearly dead.
Without hesitation, Jiraiya made hand seals and leaned forward, pulsing chakra into his hair and he felt his scalp tingle when Ma and Pa pressed their hands on his head.
Senpo: Kebari Senbon.
His hair spiked put and the whistle of thousands of senbon filled the air as he struck out at Orochimaru with the Jutsu, the technique almost impossible to dodge with speed alone.
Orochimaru blasted an intense gust of wind at the first ones to divert their trajectory and sank under the ground again, extending his blade towards Jiraiya several meters.
Jiraiya used the same earth jutsu as before and tried to eject Orochimaru from the earth, but the man had learned from before. The snake Sannin jumped from the earth and already had his hands up in the final seal for a Kaiton jutsu only a few meters from Jiraiya.
Kaiton: Karyu Endan.
A constant stream of fire flew from Orochimaru's mouth and Jiraiya frantically shifted his hair to protect himself, the scent of scorched hair filling the air as the flames struck him.
The Sword of Kusanagi tore through the shield of white hair and Jiraiya barely managed to avoid the blade from piercing a lung, the steel glancing across a rib instead.
Groaning softly, Jiraiya backed away and flung several kunai with exploding tags attached to them through a small gap in his barrier, triggering them as he retracted his hair.
Orochimaru, having avoided the explosion, slashed towards him again, having blurred right in front of him.
Another bout of taijutsu against kenjutsu occurred, the clang of steel hitting nature enhanced fists echoing. Jiraiya still felt the steel give him extremely shallow cuts, and they were building up, but Orochimaru would tear through his kunai easier than his hands when in Sage mode.
After he caught the blade from an overhead strike, Jiraiya yanked it towards him and drove his forehead into Orochimaru's face, his Hitai-ate taking the hit.
Orochimaru hissed in pain and pulled away, blackish blood coming from his nose.
Orochimaru shot forward again and twisted to avoid the Rasengan Jiraiya shoved towards his ribs, bringing his blade down towards Jiraiya's shoulder.
In a display of speed enhanced by Senjutsu, Jiraiya twisted and pushed his wrist guard against the blade, forcing it to shift away as the white haired man drove his foot into Orochimaru's leg.
The crunch of bone breaking echoed across the flat terrain and Orochimaru took several punches to the face and chest when he staggered as his leg gave out.
Another Rasengan from Jiraiya came towards him and Orochimaru avoided his heart being torn out, but his lower ribs took the hit, his shirt and side getting shredded.
A kawarimi with a mud clone aided in Orochimaru's avoidance of another kill shot, but Jiraiya wasn't going to let him go.
Blurring through hand seals, Jiraiya signaled for Ma and Pa to help him out.
Katon: Gamayu Endan.
He spat fire out of his mouth and the wind and oil combination from Ma and Pa had the fire growing in size.
Orochimaru wasn't able to avoid it from the hits he took and made his own hand seals, planting his hands on the ground.
Doton: Mud Wall.
The wall of earth that rose from the ground took the hit, but Jiraiya shot forward, sensing exactly where Orochimaru was.
Pushing chakra into his hand to overpower a Rasengan, Jiraiya leaped into the air several meters with the assistance of chakra and smashed his hand into the weakened wall.
Oodama Rasengan.
The wall exploded and Jiraiya flung several explosive tags through the dust cloud, detonating them as they reached Orochimaru.
Jiraiya felt Orochimaru's chakra flare like the tags struck and he took a deep breath.
He raced towards him, Rasengan in hand, and let out a shout of rage as he drove it through Orochimaru's chest.
It turned out to be the real Orochimaru because Jiraiya felt his arm tear through his chest cavity and his arm buried itself almost shoulder deep as the snake vomited blood all over his chest, collapsing backwards.
Again, the Sword of Kusanagi managed to land a slash to him as Orochimaru fell backwards, a freshly bleeding wound leaving a darkening stain on his left pant leg.
The Toad Sannin pulled his arm out and tried to not shiver in disgust at the blackish blood that covered him, the stench worse than normal human blood.
Jiraiya didn't look back at the corpse, Shunshined away and rushed towards Gamabunta to assist him, the toad boss barely keeping up with Manda.
'Damnit, I have only a temporary opening until Orochimaru catches up.' He thought, shouting at Gamabunta as a signal.
Gamabunta, who had just swung his tanto at Manda to keep him back, jumped in the air without hesitation, the ground shaking from the action.
"Hurry and do it now!" The toad shouted.
Jiraiya went through the hand seals needed and forcefully grabbed at his chakra.
Doton: Yomi Numa. (Swamp of the Underworld).
Jiraiya used a sizable amount of his reserves to turn the vast expanse of flat area into a thick mud and managed to catch Manda in it, the snake hissing as he started to sink into the field of mud.
"Die, Manda!" Gamabunta roared, landing on top of Manda and trying to stab the snake in the head, the two in a death fight while rolling around in the thick semi solid liquid.
Jiraiya turned and saw a now completely healed Orochimaru running towards him, rage in his features as he made hand seals.
Kaiton: Gokakyu no Jutsu.
A ball of fire was expelled from Orochimaru and came shooting towards him, the velocity higher than most.
Jiraiya responded with a fireball of his own, wind assisting it from his toads.
"We can't take much more, Jiraiya-chan." Ma said as the two fireballs crashed into each other with a resounding boom, a miniature mushroom cloud being the result.
Jiraiya was close to coming out of Sage mode due to his chakra getting lower, but Orochimaru looked almost as tired as him.
They had fought throughout the day, the sun beginning to set already. From the rooftop, to the streets, to the outside of the wall, and finally the flat plains outside of Konoha, they had constantly fought a brutal battle to the death. If not for their mid to higher end Kage reserves, the two Sannin would have keeled over from exhaustion long before now, but they still were capable of fighting.
"If you two have to, get out of here," Jiraiya breathed, sensing Orochimaru was still ahead of him.
Jiraiya suddenly felt Orochimaru sink into the ground and was coming towards him.
Making an Earth clone and planting several exploding tags on it, Jiraiya ran towards the edge of his swamp jutsu, planning to engage Orochimaru once again.
Orochimaru rose from the ground and stared at Jiraiya, sword still in hand.
The snake Sannin rushed towards Jiraiya and slashed at his head, trying to take his head off. Jiraiya easily dodged the attack and shifted to the side to avoid another hit, maintaining a light step to avoid the sword. A constant game of attacking, dodging, and disengaging occurred between the two, both men's attacks equally as deadly in their own right.
The earth clone rushed towards them and Jiraiya ducked under a swing, kicking his legs out and nimbly jumping off of Orochimaru's blade as the clone exploded.
His ears slightly ringing and his foot burning from the sword's edge cutting into the bottom of his foot, Jiraiya saw a more visibly injured Orochimaru come at him, chaining together several attacks.
This time, Jiraiya was finding it difficult to match the speed of attacks and he took a few hits to his leg and his arms, trying to land a critical hit before Orochimaru could.
A Senjutsu assisted punch could break ribs, while the Sword of Kusanagi could extend and sever limbs with just a twist.
A punch from Jiraiya was blocked by Orochimaru's left arm as his sword arm straightened to stab at Jiraiya, the two landing hits.
Jiraiya's fist shattered Orochimaru's forearm, while Orochimaru's blade extended and dug into Jiraiya's arm, the snake Sannin being sent flying.
Jiraiya didn't celebrate the small victory and instead looked at his shoulder, gritting his teeth as his breathing caused the blade buried in it to shift a little.
Jiraiya hissed as he pulled the sword from his left shoulder, a swear leaving his lips as blood started to stain his jacket. He flicked his fingers to ignite some fire on the end of them to cauterize the wound so he didn't bleed out, another growl escaping him as the sizzling sound reached his ears.
With a muttered "Eat this." he reached into his jacket and took out an exploding tag, strapped it to the hilt, and spat on the blade as he kicked it away.
The sword glowed and flew back to Orochimaru, the man catching it.
Jiraiya detonated the tag and frowned when 'Orochimaru' exploded into chunks of earth, an earth clone taking the hit.
The blade flew back to Orochimaru after it was flung away from the explosion, the blade a ghostly blue through the smoke and dust.
"Just like Naruto-kun." Orochimaru laughed through the smoke, emerging untouched by the explosion, but his left arm hung uselessly to his side from Jiraiya's punch.
"Always a truly resilient opponent, aren't you, Jiraiya?" Orochimaru said coldly, his eyes flicking towards Manda.
Gamabunta managed to get the upper hand due to the mud working against Manda more so than Gamabunta, the toad now strangling the snake.
Orochimaru clicked his tongue as Manda disappeared in a puff of smoke, going back to Ryuchi cave to avoid getting killed.
"Run like the coward you are!" Gamabunta shouted, hitting his chest tauntingly.
Gamabunta, for lack of a better word, looked like death warmed over. The toad was favouring his left side and the eye that had a scar running through the lid was almost swelled shut, blood flowing down it from a cut.
The toad seemed to realize his predicament and tried to pull himself out of the mud, scowling at the difficulty.
"Just give up," Jiraiya said tiredly, looking at his equally as tired opponent, "It's going to go down to the wire on who is going to kill the other, but Gamabunta is still here, while Manda is gone. You don't have the chakra to summon another snake to contend with him."
Orochimaru had the nerve to laugh at him.
"That would be the case, but you forget that I am immortal," Orochimaru threw his arms out, the center of his left forearm flexing like an elbow should, "If you do kill me, I will simply return. And I have no weaknesses," Orochimaru's smile twisted into an even more sinister one, "But you have two."
"And what are those two weaknesses?" Jiraiya asked, ready to rip Orochimaru's head off his shoulders, despite the ache in his bones and muscles and the scent of his own blood and Orochimaru's clinging to his clothes.
Orochimaru kept smiling.
"Minato's children."
Jiraiya's fists clenched and he glared at Orochimaru with golden toadlike eyes.
"They are stronger than anything that you throw at them," Jiraiya said fiercely, "Especially Naruto."
"Ah, yes, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru smiled, "I almost convinced him to join me."
Jiraiya refused to believe that. Naruto would never join Orochimaru. He saw how he acted. He was kind and good like his father. The only similarities he had with Orochimaru was that he was intelligent and used a sword.
"I won't listen to your lies, Orochimaru." Jiraiya growled, ready to get started again.
"I said almost, Jiraiya," Orochimaru mock scolded him, "He made his opinion known when he attempted to kill me, even after he somehow survived having his head removed with this," Orochimaru raised his blade as an example, "So I sent my most competent servant to kill him."
Jiraiya stiffened at that, the thought of somebody Orochimaru hand picked to kill Naruto fighting him hammered into the man the need to kill Orochimaru and help his godson.
"You won't be able to save them both." Orochimaru laughed, that unsettling laugh of his coming from his forked tongue, "Unless you leave now. You can't defeat my subordinate and those I've sent to capture Sasuke-kun. And Itachi is currently here to capture Jinchuriki."
"I don't believe you." Jiraiya gritted out, taking a step forward to resume the fight he feared would be their last.
"He's telling the truth." I voice said behind him.
Jiraiya wheeled around and saw a sight that had him letting out a sigh of relief.
Uzumaki Ashina appeared behind him, his form shimmering into existence.
"Ashina." Orochimaru spat, raising his sword in challenge, "Of course you decide to show up now, out of all times to."
"Sorry I was delayed," Ashina shrugged, his body relaxed, "It took me fighting a spandex wearing taijutsu freak and several Jonin to get here with this." He pointed to the mask on his face, another held in his left hand.
The mask that somebody tried to steal so many years ago, only to be killed and turned to stone in the process, now adorned Ashina's face. Unlike some of the other masks that were made in the image of Oni, this one was in the shape of a dragon. It was also made of metal, the grey steel faded noticably with age while the gold adornment on it still looked in good condition.
'Even if I can't see them, the seals etched in the interior are beyond my understanding.'
He could assume it enabled a Sage to continuously absorb nature chakra while in the middle of combat, but he knew he wouldn't be able to replicate it if he was given a hundred years and the promise of having Tsunade in a maid outfit as a reward for doing it.
Jiraiya realized something in that moment.
"Why didn't I sense you?" He asked the Uzumaki, the man's golden eyes turning to his.
"I can wrap Nature chakra around me to hide my signature," He replied, "Even from other sages."
Ashina then turned to Orochimaru.
"I know precisely how to replicate the ability you covet, Orochimaru," Ashina laughed at the look that made its way on to Orochimaru's face, "I just want one thing in return."
Jiraiya had never seen a more hungry look on Orochimaru's face in his life. What was this ability that Ashina mentioned?
"Tell me what you want." Orochimaru stated without hesitation, "I will destroy Iwa if you wish it. Do you wish for Roshi's head? I will give you your freedom and you can seek vengeance on those who destroyed Uzu. What do you want?"
Ashina seemed to sag in on himself.
"I want my family back," He muttered, "I want my wife. I want my children. I want all the grandchildren I lost because I decided that killing a man was more important than focusing on my clan. I killed the man who has the ability you covet, Orochimaru," A steely tone emerged from Ashina's mouth, his chakra spasming in rage, "I outlived the strongest Senju and Uchiha in history."
"I can bring them back." Orochimaru offered, "I can resurrect as much of your clan as possible."
"I would never have them become an imitation like I am," Ashina snarled, "There is only one way I can truly have them in my arms again." Ashina's eyes glowed with power and his chakra was saturating the air, "Tell me the name of the leader of the Akatsuki and I will tell you how it's made!"
This was obviously something Orochimaru and Ashina spoke about, but the context eluded Jiraiya.
Jiraiya could tell Orochimaru felt cornered. Orochimaru couldn't fight the two of them. So Orochimaru hissed out a response that had Jiraiya shaken to his core.
"His name is Pein."
'What?' Jiraiya thought in shock, realizing this was colossal. They never had a name for the Akatsuki leader, and Orochimaru just out and said it.
"Now, your end of the bargain." Orochimaru hissed, ready to fight, "I will not let this be the end."
"End?" Ashina asked with a raised brow, "Oh, the journey doesn't end here." A devilish grin could be heard behind the mask.
Jiraiya recognized those exact words when he had asked Ashina years ago what he thought about death, given that the man had seen a great deal of it and was in his nineties.
"Death is just another path. One that we all must take."
Orochimaru realized what was going to happen and made a hand seal, laughing in that disturbing manner that he did when Ashina didn't move to attack.
"You thought you could kill me, Ashina?" The pale man laughed, staring at him, "Remember, it was I that summoned you. It doesn't matter that you severed my control. You still can be sent back to the afterlife."
Seconds passed, but Ashina still stood there.
"Sent back?" Ashina laughed mockingly in response. "Remember who trained the man that devised this Jutsu. Did you not think my clan, the greatest seal masters of all, couldn't think of a backdoor into taking control of a summoning jutsu for a human soul?!"
The snake Sannin went through the necessary hand seals to release Ashina specifically, but he still stood there.
Orochimaru truly digested what had just happened. His greatest weapon was truly taken out of his control.
"How?" He breathed.
"I'm not telling. With the way the world works, you'll come back from the dead if I tell you and use the information against me. And I'll ask again, just as I did when you had me locked up in that bunker on the northern region of Hi no Kuni, where did you get that specific blood sample?" Ashina asked the last part with a frosty tone, "I can count on one hand how many people other than me knew about that sample, and I'd still have 4 fingers."
Jiraiya noticed how Ashina worded it. He wanted the information about his blood's location known to him. Perhaps so he could be called upon again by Konoha if need be.
Orochimaru, without taking his eyes off of either of them, slammed his hand into the ground after going through hand seals, splitting a sizable portion of the Earth in two to try and escape.
But Orochimaru immediately stiffened as he turned to run, two seals forming all across his body that glowed from red to black.
The slanted yellow eyes of Orochimaru widened as he tried to thrash around and escape from the trap.
"What did you do to me?" He gritted out, still fighting to break free from the seals restraining him, but his chakra was too depleted to overload it.
"I made my bunshin invisible and had a portion of Nature chakra in them to completely mask their presence," Ashina explained shortly, "And they just marked you. How fortunate that Jiraiya forced you to expend enough chakra where you can't shatter them with ease like you could have."
Jiraiya, even if he saw how Ashina was in complete control of the situation, was still ready to resume the fight in case something happened. He would leave nothing to chance.
The masked Uzumaki walked towards Orochimaru slowly and took his mask off, holding it in his right hand, preparing to do something.
"You are going to die, Orochimaru," Ashina said flatly, "And Hiruzen still lives. Your legacy will be that of a creature that crawls in the dust. You may bite at my heel, but I shall crush your head, snake."
With Orochimaru straining to break free, Ashina struck him across the face, the slap being a relatively light one, but the Senjutsu enhancement to it had a tooth flying from Orochimaru's mouth.
"You wish to know what it is like to see the world like I do?" Ashina asked amusedly, "You asked me what it felt like to slowly die to Nature chakra consuming my body and how death feels when you resurrected me weeks ago, as well as what being a sensor like me is like when you were a guest in my village."
Orochimaru spat out the blood and glared at Ashina, his mouth shifting.
"Try and grab at me with your tongue, and I won't tell you the secret to reality that I learned when I died."
Orochimaru seemed to reconsider his plan, now that it was known.
"It's strange, for I don't think I can give you a satisfactory answer, Orochimaru. Some would think that the mysteries of the universe are revealed to you upon the passing of your soul into the afterlife."
Ashina chuckled mirthlessly.
"Perhaps you were expecting some surprise," the Uzumaki said coldly, "for me to reveal a secret that had eluded you, something that would change your perspective of events, shatter you to your core."
Ashina seemed to gather himself and opened his eyes once more, the violet orbs seeming to gaze at eternity.
"There is no great revelation, no great secret. There is only you."
Ashina stepped forward and shoved the mask on to Orochimaru's face, the mask taking hold.
Orochimaru eyes rolled into his head and he started spasming, his chakra network flaring horribly in a way that Jiraiya wished he could stop looking, but he didn't.
Jiraiya watched as Orochimaru was screaming for it to stop, to show mercy and to kill him.
But Jiraiya did nothing.
As Orochimaru slowly petrified into stone, Ashina visibly grimaced and put the other mask on, a ghostly chill striking Jiraiya down to his bones.
Ashina's chakra seemed to dim and a shimmering thing appeared behind him, a gust of wind rustling his hair.
Ma and Pa gasped as a ghostly silhouette appeared behind Ashina, robed and holding a knife between its teeth.
Jiraiya struggled to draw breath, images that were in his nightmares were being dragged to the front of his mind as his Senjutsu sensory ability saw absolutely nothing from the creature.
All the Wars. Tsunade screaming at her grandfather's death. The smoldering ruins of Uzu. Minato and Kushina's bloody and pale corpses, their faces far too flat and cold.
Jiraiya fell to his knees and tried to steady himself as Ashina was visibly shaking, moving his hand up to his face.
The Shinigami mimicked his movements and pulled the blade from its mouth and lowered it towards its stomach, where Ashina was visibly shaking.
Letting out a shout of emotion, Ashina slashed horizontally with a chakra blade, tearing open his stomach. The Shinigami mimicked the motion and tore its own stomach open, something bright and luminescent flying out of its stomach.
Right as Jiraiya's Sage mode deactivated from his low chakra, he felt the glimpse of the light. And tears sprang from his eyes as he realized what that light was.
"Minato."
With shaking hands, Ashina tore the mask off and let out a scream, falling to his knees and sobbing as the Shinigami vanished.
"Make it stop. Make it stop." The Uzumaki moaned, the ground shifting as his chakra was shaking uncontrollably like his body.
Ashina was gibbering nonsense as Jiraiya managed to recover from feeling the presence of the Shinigami and looked at a now silent Orochimaru.
The sight was a grim one.
Orochimaru was completely petrified, his body solid stone. The way his hands were clasped around his throat was enough to have Jiraiya turn away from the body, not wanting to imagine the look of terror that would have matched the screaming.
Ashina managed to pull himself together and stood up, his eyes flicking to the mask he threw.
"That mask is the most wretched thing I've ever touched." He spat, walking towards the petrified Orochimaru unsteadily. "I'll be taking this back." He grabbed the mask from Orochimaru's face and put it back on, his eyes shifting back to a golden colour.
Ashina then stooped down and picked up the Sword of Kusanagi, inspecting it.
"I'll be needing this for a moment." Ashina muttered to himself, pressing his palm on the base of the blade to plant a seal.
The sword glowed blue, then to gold, and finally back to blue. Ashina pulsed chakra into it as a test and the blade stretched to his command.
"Definitely useful for an Uzumaki in need of a legendary sword." Ashina said to himself, muttering something under his breath about a late birthday present.
Ashina eventually turned to face Jiraiya, glowing eyes looking at him speculatively.
"What was that you and Orochimaru were talking about?" Jiraiya asked, still shaken by the Shinigami.
Ashina sighed and looked at Jiraiya, making several dozen Kage bunshin.
"It can wait. I can feel Hiruzen's chakra and it's extremely faint. You need to get him to an Iryo-nin. I'll handle taking care of Naruto and Rin." Ashina promised.
Jiraiya was relieved at that, giving Ashina a look of gratitude.
"But do me a favor, Jiraiya." Ashina's voice got uncharacteristically harsh, chakra pulsed in his legs indicative of a Shunshin.
Jiraiya looked directly at Ashina, waiting for the dead man to speak.
"Who do you think is the one touched by prophecy?" Ashina looked straight at Ma and Pa still perched on his shoulders.
Ashina was one of the few, Hiruzen being the only one alive currently, that he had confided in about the prophecy made by the Great Toad Elder.
"I know you scolded me about me thinking myself the prophesized one when I told you it," Jiraiya said irritably, "But I was the first to sign the toad contract in generations."
"And I crossed blades with Gamabunta back when Madara was an infant." Ashina countered, "How's the scar near your eye, Gama-chan?!' Ashina shouted at Gamabunta, who was still in the mud.
Gamabunta sent him a rude gesture and disappeared in a large puff, the chakra used to summon him having run out.
"Prophecy means nothing, Jiraiya," Ashina said, "I stumbled across Mount Myoboku by accident, not by fate. I saved one of the snakes of Ryuchi Cave by chance, not fate. Chasing after a prophecy to deliver you from the encroaching darkness only emboldens the cowardly to run off and let some poor kid clean up their messes."
Jiraiya remembered the arguments the two of them had during their talks, but he was unmoved in his belief that somebody would come and would usher in an age of peace.
Ashina had scoffed at prophecy and said it was pointless and stupid the moment Jiraiya had broached the subject for the first time.
"But I witnessed someone of your blood that had something mythical." Jiraiya replied, needing Ashina to know this about Nagato. "It validated what the Great Toad Elder said."
"Oh really?" Ashina asked, almost with an admonishing lilt, "And what mythical something did someone of my blood have? When did you discover this?"
"I discovered it a couple years after Uzu was destroyed," Jiraiya said quietly, "An Uzumaki boy named Nagato possessed the Rinnegan."
Ashina made no sound, just standing perfectly still.
"Describe the eyes." Ashina requested with a whisper, his face obscured by his mask.
"Purple and ringed. He was about ten years old when I found him with some other orphans in Ame. The war hit Ame hard after you were killed and the tide swung in Konoha's favour."
Jiraiya gave as fast as a rundown as he could about Nagato, including some of the abilities he showed and his mastery of all nature releases at age 10 or 11.
"They couldn't have been his eyes, Jiraiya," Ashina shook his head, "The Uzumaki and Senju don't have dojutsu ever."
"Well this one did." Jiraiya said, noticing Ashina's posture shift.
"And where is he now? This... Chosen one?" Ashina asked with derision, "I'm sure he would have restored the Uzumaki clan and brought peace to the world. But Orochimaru informed me of a Third Shinobi War and my clan is still on the edge of extinction."
Sighing, Jiraiya answered.
"He is dead."
Ashina ran a hand through his hair and shook his head.
"A pity. War takes anything with impunity, especially the good."
Ashina then abruptly perked up.
"Well, thinking about it," Ashina flipped the Sword of Kusanagi up and balanced the edge on his index, "It validates the theory I had that the Sage was a real person, not just a legend, and that we descended from him, but a ten year old Uzumaki having the Rinnegan doesn't add up with any of my studies."
"Studies?" Jiraiya raised a brow in curiosity.
"It will take hours we don't have to explain. I have a vault in Uzu that has every scrap of notes I've ever made on Fuinjutsu and other projects I had. It requires a sage descended from me to open it."
"How did you even manage to pull that off? And why?"
Ashina's eyes narrowed.
"The information I had in there could have eventually resulted in this," He gestured at the mask, "Being accessible to those who would destroy Konoha. This mask regulates the intake of Nature chakra to match your chakra reserves while on the move. I was in Sage mode for a week because of this."
Before Jiraiya could ask why Ashina didn't make more for his village, the man seemed to read his mind.
"It took me 7 years to make the original one work properly. It was the one that was disintegrated with me," Ashina winced at the last part, "And this one, a copy, took a year with all my schematics organized. It's tailored to my chakra alone. It's even more temperamental than a Hiraishin marker. Even identical twins aren't compatible."
"I have so many questions," Jiraiya said sadly, "If an invasion wasn't happening, we could talk for hours."
"I know," Ashina replied with regret in his voice, "I'm truly sorry for what must be done."
"Take care of Hiruzen, Jiraiya." Ashina gave a farewell wave, "He has suffered and given enough already."
With that, Uzumaki Ashina vanished in a swirl of leaves, his destination unknown.
Jiraiya took a deep breath and readied himself to run, turning his head to look at Ma and Pa.
"Go back to Mount Myoboku if you need to," Jiraiya said, his tone truly grateful, "I wouldn't have survived Orochimaru without you."
The fight had shaken him. His former friend, despite how much it rankled him to admit it, was the strongest of the three Sannin. Jiraiya could match him blow for blow like few others could, but the only thing that gave him the possibility of killing Orochimaru without dying himself was Sage mode. But even then, they were on a course to end up killing each other, despite Orochimaru's claims of immortality.
'Thank you for killing him for me, Ashina.' Jiraiya thought gratefully. Hiruzen and he were of the few that were capable of killing him, but Jiraiya would have always felt some level of guilt if he killed Orochimaru, or if he let his Sensei carry that burden on his soul.
But Ashina took the burden of his former friend's death away.
The two old toads gave their farewells and disappeared back to the home of the toads, leaving him all alone.
'I must get to Sensei.' Jiraiya ran towards the last place he felt the old man's chakra, getting to the rooftop where the fight began after racing through the village that was still fighting against the invasion, aiding where he could.
He spotted the Nidaime on one end of the roof, being restrained by some type of seal, and Hiruzen, along with Hashirama and Enma, on the side closest to him.
'Please, Kami, don't let him be dead.' Jiraiya thought fearfully, rushing towards the old man that was the closest thing that he, a clanless orphan, had to a father figure in his childhood.
"Sensei." Jiraiya slid across the ground, leaning over the extremely pale old man.
"I managed to treat the injury I caused him." The Shodai said sadly, gesturing towards the ugly wound on Hiruzen's abdomen that had been cauterized, "But I fear his age and his low chakra will make it worse."
"He won't die." Jiraiya glared at arguably the most powerful Shinobi in history, daring him to challenge him.
Hashirama sighed and looked at his brother, then back to his student and Jiraiya.
"My brother always said I was a dreamer," Hashirama looked at Hiruzen's chest rising shallowly, his eyes still closed as he slept, "And he didn't always mean it in a good way."
Jiraiya listened to what Hashirama was saying, knowing he wouldn't hear it again.
"Was everything I did worth it?" Hashirama asked, almost to himself, "I fought and killed so many people to protect my clan, my brothers, and Tobirama, the only one to outlive me, died not long after I did."
Jiraiya started to get concerned about Hashirama, but the dead man kept speaking.
"I killed my best friend," Hashirama whispered, "And for what? My clan will die and the Uchiha are almost extinct. I wasn't allowed to remain in the afterlife and not know of such horrid things. Instead, I'm standing here, watching my brother mindlessly tear at his bindings while I try to make sure my student doesn't die."
"He's going to live," Jiraiya snapped, refusing to let the Shodai fall into a state of depression, "Ashina said something about how the old are entitled to some degree of intolerance towards the next generation's failings. He said that one cannot allow the betrayal of past sacrifices. I'm 51, Hashirama-sama," Jiraiya remarked, "I've fought in two wars, fought alongside your granddaughter, and my team laid waste to many of the retreating forces that destroyed Uzu. I went from the deadlast of my class to being one of the strongest of my generation; A Sage!" Jiraiya refused to look away from Hashirama.
"I didn't give up when things got hard. I trained the man that would end a war by taking the Nidaime's Hiraishin to a completely different level and became the Yondaime Hokage. I didn't give up when he died to protect this village, Hiruzen didn't give up when his wife was killed that same night or when he had to lead this village again. I just killed my best friend," Jiraiya said, not wanting to get into the technicals, " The one who resurrected you and betrayed this village. And I'm still going to fight. I think in this case, I'm the one entitled to a bit of intolerance towards you betraying your student's sacrifices!" Jiraiya gestured towards an unconscious Hiruzen.
Hashirama was silent for several long moments, not speaking at all as he gazed at Hiruzen.
"Only three others have spoken to me like that in my entire life," He said quietly, "And unlife as well." He added unnecessarily, "My father when I was a child, Madara when we spoke about things, and Tobirama when he said I was acting foolish."
Hashirama slowly smiled at Jiraiya, his demeanor no longer sunken in.
"You're right, Jiraiya. The shock of how the years have changed things and what has happened to Hiruzen was a difficult thing to comprehend. Thank you for reminding me of what is important. The Will of Fire has not dampened within you."
Relieved at getting through to Hashirama, Jiraiya gingerly reached into Hiruzen's pocket to pull out the seal tag to free Tobirama, who was still operating under Orochimaru's base orders of attacking anything.
Walking towards the restrained Nidaime, Jiraiya planted the seal on his neck, releasing him.
Tobirama stopped trying to break out and stood still, looking up at Jiraiya.
"Would you mind removing the chakra seal on me?" Tobirama asked, gesturing towards the seal that restrained him.
Jiraiya nodded and made a few hand seals, punching the seal with a pulse of chakra to break it. The seal shattered and Tobirama was freed, standing up and rushing towards his brother and Hiruzen.
Kneeling down, Tobirama shook his head as he looked at his student.
"Always willing to make a sacrifice," Tobirama said sadly, "even nearly 50 years after you said you were ready to die to delay the Kinkaku force."
Tobirama then looked at his brother.
"Our village is under attack, elder brother," His tone was as cold as ice, "Do we have it in us for one last fight?"
Hashirama made a single hand seal, a Kage bunshin appearing.
"Watch over Saru." Hashirama instructed the clone, standing up with the sound of his armour shifting. "Yes, Tobirama, it seems the village we created needs our help."
The two then turned to Jiraiya, the combined attention a little uncomfortable from the Senju brothers.
"You understand what is going on better," Tobirama stated simply, "We will follow your lead."
Jiraiya couldn't exactly describe the feeling as he saw two figures he'd always viewed as Titans from history books deciding to fight alongside him. It was always him that was the one viewed as the top dog, but these two men emerged from a childhood of nomadic movement and chaos and forged a stable world that helped improve the lives of many, one being considered the most powerful Shinobi in history.
Despite his tiredness, Jiraiya knew he could face off against most Shinobi and still come out on top.
But before he could tell them where to go to combat the invasion, Tobirama twitched.
"The seal deactivated." The white haired Senju said, "Ashina needs assistance."
With that, Tobirama slammed his palm into Hashirama's arm and marked him, flashing away in a similar manner to what Minato did.
He arrived back about 20 seconds later and looked between the two of them.
"North West outskirts between the trees and plains," He said quickly, "Three Jinchuriki, the Raikage, an Uchiha, and a wielder of Samehada are fighting. The Uchiha has the Mangekyo Sharingan, elder brother," He gaze flicked towards Hashirama, "We'd best be cautious."
Tobirama looked less bothered than Hashirama at the statement, but he still said it with a guarded tone.
Hashirama, on the other hand, clenched his fists and looked straight at his brother.
"Can your chakra handle flashing us there?" His voice brokered no nonsense.
"No," Tobirama shook his head, "Whatever Orochimaru," He said the name distastefully, "Did to bring us back has left my Hiraishin travel rather rough. I'm not confident that I can teleport another that isn't me."
Jiraiya focused in on how bad it sounded. Itachi was there, and Hiruzen had told him the details of the massacre of the Uchiha.
Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed a small container that held soldier pills, pulling one out and popping it into his mouth to replenish some of his chakra, regardless of the nausea he'd feel tomorrow.
"Ready." Jiraiya said, glancing at Hiruzen.
"Saru will be fine." Tobirama assured him, his eyes then narrowing as he looked around, "It seems Ashina-sensei has enveloped the village with mist to hide his bunshin. I'm pleased that he managed to do that."
Jiraiya had sensed Ashina's chakra cover Konoha like a shroud when he was fighting Orochimaru and had seen the mist as he leaped across the buildings to get back, but he hadn't realized why Ashina did that until Tobirama spoke.
So that may have been what he did at Uzu.
"I will see you in a short while." Tobirama said to his brother and Jiraiya, flashing towards Ashina.
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Part two up next. Hope you enjoyed.
