33 A simple Crush! part-2

{50 km away from Konoha}

Hideaki Kousuke looked around nervously beneath his mask, the mission had not gone according to plan. First of all, they were supposed to meet with Kichirō-san. Their team waited a whole day and they even used the recommended disguise to promote a new fruit stall but they failed to achieve contact with Kichirō-san.

Miyu Kyōko managed to gain the whereabouts of Uzumaki Kushina, her clan compound was isolated so they managed to sedate her and leave Konoha without being surrounded by squads of ANBU.

But right when things were going smoothly the Jinchuriki woke up. The sedatives didn't work for as long as they wanted and her body simply burned through the normal anesthetic. They didn't apply any seals to knock her out since trying that on a Jinchuriki was a big no-no.

'We can't even carry her, according to the mission brief if a Jinchurki becomes angry and their emotions fluctuate too much the chances of them going volatile and using their Bijuu increases.'

So here they were, surrounding the Jinchuriki from all sides, as they slowly walked on a beaten path toward Kumo. Even then the brat pretended to fall down a lot and slowed them down.

'We are still so far from the border, at this rate it would take more than 4-5 days before we reach there. I need to send Ryu to search for more sedatives and buy them in bulk when we cross the next to-' Hideaki thought when suddenly his senses screamed at him to dodge.

He was the one walking in front and when he turned around his teammates were already falling as he saw a shadow flicker around.

'Shit we got found out,' Hideaki jumped back on instinct when he sensed someone coming straight at him from the side. He managed to pull out his kunai and place it in the path of incoming attack but at the last moment, the attack changed as the kunai was thrust into his neck with a flick.

The pain was short-lived as Hideaki collided with a tree, his head snapped onto a branch breaking his neck as his suffering ended abruptly. 

Minato's cold blue eyes calculated Hideaki's falling trajectory, as soon as he saw his neck snap he ignored him and looked at the other two. They were both lying on the ground behind Kushina a kunai sticking out from their neck as blood started flowing.

He walked towards Kushina and upon seeing her miserable appearance his gaze softened. The eyes that contained steel melted as he thought about a way to make sure she was okay.

'She's always been miserable about her hair always complaining...' Minato thought as he walked out into the moonlight. 

He smiled as he asked, "Are you hurt?"

Kushina was walking slowly in a daze, she looked like she had given up but Minato's words woke her from her dark thoughts.

As the moonlight hit Minato's smiling face he spoke, "I came to save you."

A feeling of relief overcame Kushina upon seeing Minato, they were rivals and they shared the same dream, and she never expected to see him again after all the walking.

She tried to smile but her legs gave out as she started collapsing. Her knees hit the ground but before she could completely fall face-first into the ground, Minato grabbed her shoulders and stabilized her.

"You'll be alright now," Minato spoke as he smiled, he looked at her grey eyes and her bright red hair as he discreetly cut the ropes off. He pulled her in his arms as he jumped back towards Konoha.

"Eh! Wait a minut-" Kushina spoke but before she could finish her eyes caught sight of the giant silver moon that was shining behind Minato.

She blushed as she looked away from his face and caught sight of a bunch of her hair that he was holding in his hands.

"Your hair is very beautiful so I noticed it right away..." Minato spoke. He concentrated as they tree-hopped toward Konoha.

"But, you've always ignored me," Kushina spoke as she looked away, her emotions were high after the day so she couldn't help but ask. Minato has always been the strongest in their class, so naturally, she was also curious about him, he also advocated for her dream on the first day of class.

"Because I know you're strong, in body and in spirit. You can fight your own battles," Minato spoke, he was calm as he looked at Kushina.

His face became unnaturally serious for a moment, "But this is a fight between villages. It's different from your other fights, so..."

"So?" Kushina asked, her heart slowing down as she stared at his smile.

"So I didn't want to lose you." Minato smiled.

...

"Even if I'm an outsider?" Kushina asked, her insecurities breaking past her facade once again.

"Why do you say that, you live in the Village hidden in the leaves so you are one of us." Minato smiled, he looked at the moon once again and then sighed.

"Come on, let's get you back home," Minato spoke as he once again started dashing back home.

...

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{5 hours Later}

Hiruzen looked at the village that was sleeping calmly, his back was turned to the ANBU that had just reported that Namikaze Minato just reported to the front gate with Uzumaki Kushina on his back. According to the genin, 3 shinobi from Kumo tried to kidnap her.

He let out a huge cloud of smoke as he closed his eyes for a moment, he could feel the tides turning. Most of his tenure as the Hokage till now has been spent during peacetime, now slowly, one by one all the villages are returning to the battlefield and it is his turn to sacrifice for the village.

Hiruzen turned around and stared at the portrait of Tobirama-sensei for a moment before he placed his pipe on the desk.

"Where are they?" Hiruzen asked.

"They are at the apartment that Konoha gave to Namikaze Minato when he joined the academy," Boar spoke.

"Dismissed," Hiruzen spoke as he walked out of his office.

'The Uzumaki clan compound is too secluded from Konoha, it was so because of Mito-sama's request, and since she was living there it didn't matter much, but now with Kushina living there, its a security risk...' Hiruzen thought.

'It seems like Kumo is going to participate in the war as well, the Uchiha clan is already stationed at the borders, this might be the perfect time to make sure we have an advantage.' Plans were already forming in Hiruzen's mind be he put them on hold as he arrived at an old apartment building.

First, he had to make sure that the legacy of Mito-sama was okay...

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{At the Same Time}

Hikaru stared at the bright moon shining in the sky, there was a small lul on the battlefield as he waited for the next batch of chunin to find his way to him. The war had broken out suddenly, he had been part of the advanced team that was part of scouting ahead so he had been caught in a battle first.

Hikaru's Sharingan spun as he stared at the approaching squad of chunins, expression of outrage was written on their faces as they stared at the 4 bodies lying beside Hikaru. One of them was still stupid enough to look into Hikaru's eyes as they approached so Hikaru sent a simple command as he took over his psyche temporarily.

'Genjutsu: Sharingan'

Hikaru grabbed the Tantō that he had taken from a fallen body a few days ago and used the kenjutsu skills that he had copied from a Konoha shinobi as he dashed at them. He wasn't proficient in Kenjutsu yet, but the amount of experience he gained from each battle was enough for him to use it.

'I don't know if it is because of the Itachi template but I could more easily understand the stances and the skills when I use it in actual combat.' Hikaru thought as he leaned his head to dodge a kunai that was thrown at him.

Dodging and weaving through the hail of weapons thrown at him, Hikaru stared at the kunai that the chunin used to strike at him. It wasn't a simple jab as the muscles of his hands were not fully compressed. He was holding back likely seeing what Hikaru would do and then he would change his attack based on that.

Unfortunately, Hikaru's speed was too much for him to handle. Hikaru simply sped up and used the maximum speed that he could achieve as he parried the attack and then flicked the kunai in his left hand through the Chunin's neck. 

Another spurt of blood hit his chest as Hikaru kicked the chunin's body at one of his teammates, while the other two were fighting amongst each other.

The one named Kenta shouted, "Youta! Wake up!"

Seeing his friend still mindlessly attacking him, Kenta rushed at his friend. He allowed one of the easier attacks to dodge as he suffered a shallow kunai stab through his left shoulder, in return though he was able to slash at his friend's hand waking him up from the genjutsu.

Kenta looked around, one of his squadmates was dead and the little monster was rushing at their other teammate he shouted at Hikaru and warned loudly, "He's an Uchiha, don't look him in the eyes."

Hikaru glanced at him from the corner of his eyes as he calculated the distance between them with his Sharingan. Seeing that he still had 2 seconds before the chunin could interfere he stared back at the chunin in front of him who was trying and failing to not disrespect the dead chunin's body while trying to dodge.

Kenta stopped halfway as he saw Hikaru mercilessly slaughter Shirou as well. The battle had barely started but they were down 2 members, he analyzed the opponent whose gaze was now staring at him.

'He's faster both in raw speed and reaction time, plus with his Sharingan he's able to see through all our attacks. Using Taijutsu against him is equivalent to suicide...' He analyzed as he went through a series of handseals.

Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake

'Wind Release: Great Breakthrough'

A spiraling column of wind emerged from his mouth as he targeted Hikaru. Hikaru on the other hand was fascinated as he stared at the seals and how the chunins' chakra moved, it was his chakra sensing that saved him as he sensed a massive chkara spike from the chunin.

'Did he really burn through almost half of his chakra for this one attack,' Hikaru thought as he used body flicker to dodge left and then waited for the chunin to fire the jutsu at him before he used body flicker again to rush toward another battle that was happening nearby.

'Should I try it, might as well, it would hurt their morale too.' Hikaru thought as he went through a series of hand seals as well.

Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake

'Wind Release: Great Breakthrough'

Hikaru didn't have to worry about targeting as he simply aimed the jutsu at a bunch of Suna shinobi who had just finished a battle and were too tired to notice the wind element ninjutsu heading for them until it was too late.

A series of notifications appeared in front of Hikaru who dismissed them in favor of looking at a tired Kenta who was huffing with exertion after using half his chakra reserves to achieve nothing but a disruption in battle.

The two B-Rank Ninjutsu ripping through the battlefield did cause the battle to halt for a moment as the Jonin responsible for the battle looked at the damage their team had suffered. Hikaru seeing the battle stop retreated as well. The Wind jutsu just now burned through 1.2k chakra.

Even though he still had a lot of reserves there was no point in burning through them that quickly.

Hachirō was responsible for leading Suna in this battle, he was a young jonin but he was given command because of his tactical ability. It took only a moment for him to figure out they were losing small battles at a rate that was dangerous so he waved his hands in retreat. 

The Suna shinobi each rolled a smoke bomb in front of them and then they threw hundreds of kunai with an explosive tag attached to them as they retreated.

"They are retreating," Hikaru spoke, his words holding a little more weight as he walked over to Yuna Uchiha. She was the jonin in charge of this platoon and her thoughts were hidden behind a stoic mask as she nodded. With instructions to take the wounded back to the base camp as the rest of them secured the area.

The battle for territory had started raging all over the Land of Rain, thousands of civilians died as they had no way to retreat and were caught in the crossfire. At the same time in a distant village quite close to Amegakure, two Zetsu stared at the corpses of three Konoha chunin beneath them.

They each leaned down and their whole body slowly transformed into that of Konoha shinobi.

"Let's go back to report Kouji..." 'Riku' spoke as they both grinned before they moved towards Konoha base camp.

...

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Yuna Uchiha stared as Hikaru walked through their current platoon tending to some of the more serious injuries that needed to be seen before they walked back. She was given a mission by Daisuke-sama to suppress Hikaru's achievements during the war and keep him confined to the medic tent.

'He really is giving too much trouble to Daisuke-sama...' Yuna thought as she watched him work. She never intended to follow Daisuke-sama's orders though, that's why she allowed Hikaru to go to the front lines to gather experience.

She didn't mind the schemes and politics, but she would never do that against another Uchiha, she could somewhat understand Daisuke-sama's concerns but that would not mean she would ever suppress a fellow Uchiha.

And it seemed like her gambit worked, it's been almost 3 days since the battles had broken out throughout the Land of Rain and Hikaru had already amassed an impressive body count.

At the same time, she was a bit worried about his mental health, but with the war going on and the constant fights she hadn't had the time to sit down and have a talk with him.

"Yuna-san, should we move forward or hold this area?" A chunin asked, their group was small, one of the many small platoons working independently under the command of a Jonin.

Unlike a full-scale war, the current situation was that most battles took place as small fights. Both Konoha and Suna were testing each other's strength and at the same time figuring out the intentions of other shinobi villages.

'Iwa had started to fight against Konoha in the Land of Grass as well, but there have been no signs of any battle taking place in the Land of River.' Yuna thought as she looked at the surrounding area. The terrain they had been fighting on was originally a village so they had shelter here.

"Search for any survivors that are hiding, and relocate them to a nearby village. We'll hold this position until further notice," Yuna spoke as the camp spurned into action. Various tents started springing up as the squad of 25 shinobi quickly began working to create a reasonable outpost.

Yuna looked at the preparations and then walked towards Hikaru who was working on containing a stab wound that a chunin had suffered on his thigh. His hands were glowing with green chakra as beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

His serious expression was a sharp contrast to the concentration on his face as the three tomoe in his eyes rotated slowly. She stood in silence as Hikaru worked on the leg for almost 10 minutes.

Hikaru stared at the wound closing and then closed his eyes, the amount of chakra that was suitable for regenerating muscles was different from the amount of chakra one needed to heal skin and other tissue.

Most medic nin relied on experience but as he kept healing more people, his Sharingan helped him remember the ratio very well so his healing progress has become a lot faster.

The skill exp system worked a little differently than normal exp. He hadn't noticed it when he was upgrading the Sharingan or the Great Fireball jutsu but he gets a bonus skill exp if he performs a technique perfectly.

Only now when he had to be perfect in order to heal someone, he noticed the closer he was to perfection the more quickly his exp rises.

He opened his eyes and willed his skill list to come up, the mystical palm technique had leveled up quite a bit in the last 3 days.

...

[Medical Ninjutsu: Mystical Palm Jutsu (Active)- Lv 6 (351/600): An A-Rank Medical Ninjutsu in which the user uses their Yin-natured chakra to simulate the physical energy in the target body to increase the rate of regeneration.

This rate is highly different from person to person, so caution is advised because too much Yin chakra flowing through a foreign body might collapse the chakra network of the target.

Regenratin rate: 3.2x

Chakra used: 1.4/s]

...

'At this rate, it won't take me long to master this Jutsu...' Hikaru thought as he looked at his chakra. He still had enough left to treat more shinobi but he refrained from going for quick level-ups. The first thing he was taught was to always have reserve chakra on the battlefield if he could.

"What can I do for you Yuna-san," Hikaru asked, he wasn't sure what to think of her, normally she was close to Daisuke's camp in politics so he thought she would hinder him during the war. But until now she hadn't actually done anything or directly forbid him for anything or at least tried to.

"Just checking in on you," Yuna spoke as she took the place that Tarou just vacated.

"How's Tarou, will his leg be okay?" Yuna asked.

"Yeah I healed almost all damage, but he shouldn't stress his newly regenerated muscles so soon, I would rather send him to base camp to rest," Hikaru spoke, he was testing Yuna's response.

This was her team technically as she was the Jonin commander in charge so she could simply deny his request with the excuse of manpower.

"Alright," Yuna simply nodded, her eyes drifted as she stared at the big moon hanging in the distance.

"It's a beautiful night," she whispered.

Hikaru looked at her in surprise and then he turned to look at the moon as well. Unlike his last world where the moon looked a little too far away and was nothing more than a small dot in the sky. The moon on the elemental nations was a lot closer, or at least it looked a lot larger.

'Makes sense, Nagato did say that the moon was created by the Sage of the Six Paths using the Chibaku Tensai. I think that's what the jutsu was called... and there was also the movie where a remnant of the Otsusuki clan was living on the moon.' Hikaru thought.

He wasn't clear on most details as he had just read the Manga growing up, the anime and the filler arc came a lot later and by then he was involved in the struggle to graduate from his university. 

'There were a lot of movies and filler episodes that I don't know anything about... I just hope killing black Zetsu will put an end to the chaos that is coming to the elemental nations...'

...

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AN - A small break from the fighting, I'm gonna dive into the thoughts of the five Kage next before the Second Shinobi World War officially breaks out in the next chapter, after that we will entirely focus on Hikaru's journey through the war!

I'm working on overhauling the story. The average chapter length from now on will go to around 2.5-3k words per chapter, but the chapters won't be available every day. I don't have a schedule ready yet but I'm thinking 1 every 2-3 days or something!

P.S- 7 chapters ahead on P.atreon -P.atreon.com/DesMark