Chapter 14 Striking at Daybreak Part three

-With Seiwa Anisu and Kisame-

"Well now isn't this a treat" spoke Kisame with a shark like grin, "I get to face against the famed Koorisui no Kami (God of Ice and Water) the man who conquered my former homeland".

"Hoshigaki Kisame better well known as the Kirigakure no Kaijin (Monster of the Hidden Mist) as well as the O o Motanai Bijū (Tailed Beast without a Tail), formerly of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū (Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist) and strongest member, wielder of the sentient sword Samehada (Shark Skin). Said to be the most terrifying of the seven great swords of the seven swordsmen", said Anisu calmly.

"Oh so you've heard of me, good then that save introductions", replied Kisame, with a larger grin as he prepared to fight.

"Your head, will go a long way to helping heal the old wounds between New Kumo and Kiri, when I present it to the new Mizukage" spoke Anisu as he drew Hyourinmaru from his back.

When Kisame saw Anisu draw Hyourinmaru, his eyes slightly widened in surprise as he recognised the Katana, from pictures in ancient scrolls he saw of it, after which an even bigger shark like grin appeared on his face.

"So the legends were true after all, the Seiwa Clan really did possess one of the three Celestial Swords" said Kisame with amusement. As for decades there had been stories in Kiri about the Seiwa Clan having a secret scared treasure, where they were said to possess one of the three Celestial swords or to be more precise Hyourinmaru. Also known as the Sword of the Ocean, due to its eminence power over Water and Ice, where it was said it could freeze an entire castle into a single block of ice and destroy it. It was even said that it could create a tidal wave that could flood a small nation as well. Because of this, the Shodaime Mizukage, Nidaime Mizukage and the Sandaime Mizukage, sought the sword in the hope of attaining it. But the Seiwa Clan denied having it, where with no proof of them really having it, none of the Mizukages could force them to give it up. It was also because of this rumour, that the Yondaime Mizukage had the Seiwa Clan to be the first Bloodline Clan to be wiped out, as he feared the swords power and feared that one of the Clan members would use it against him.

"Correct, this is my Clan's most prized treasure Hyourinmaru, and I'm the first one in my Clan to wield it, in over a hundred years" answered Anisu.

"Well this certainly makes things interested, as I've always wanted to test myself against one of the legendary Celestial swords" replied Kisame, before he then charged forward towards Anisu, who also charged forward.

For the next few minutes the two swordsmen fought in a fierce Kenjutsu battle with one another blocking and dodging each other's attacks. Throughout the fight Kisame received many slashes and cuts from Anisu on his Akatsuki cloak and on his body, since unlike his opponent, Kisame preferred to use his raw power and brute strength to overwhelm his opponents. While Anisu himself fought with great speed and skill, knowing full well that he couldn't beat his opponent with brute force. But even with this disadvantage, Kisame was still able to hold his own well, as he was able to use his great speed to dodge Ansiu more lethal strikes or slashes.

Soon enough though Kisame broke away from Anisu to gain some distance, where he then started to do several quick hand-seals and cried out "Suiton: Mizu Teppō (Water Style: Water Gun)!" and fired a large blast of Water at Anisu.

Seeing the large blast of Water heading towards him Anisu did a single one handed hand-seal and brought his two front fingers to his lips and cried out "Hyoton: Reikiko (Ice Release: Icy Breath)!(10)". After which, blew out a large freezing Wind that froze the Water blast into a large ball of ice, which Ansiu cut in two, when he swung his Katana and the two ice halves flew past him.

Although as soon as he did this, Kisame appeared above Anisu and brought Samehada down on top of him slamming him down into the ground. But when Kisame hit him, he quickly realized that the "Anisu" he hit wasn't the real Anisu, as when he hit him, Ansiu shattered into a thousand pieces of ice. Revealing that Ansiu had replaced himself with a Hyoton: Koori Bunshin (Ice Release: Ice Clone).

As soon as Kisame realised this, he started to look around for the real Ansiu, although before he could find him, he suddenly found thousands of Water needles surrounding him, where he heard Ansiu cry out "Sensatsu Suishō (Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death)!" Upon which the thousands of Water needles that surrounded him, all closed him on around him and impaled him, but as soon as they did, "Kisame" reverted into Water. Revealing that he had replaced himself with a Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Clone Technique) at the last second.

When Kismae reappeared, he suddenly found Ansiu in front of him swinging his Katana and crying out "Hyōryū Senbi (Ice Dragon Swirling Tail)!" After which ice overflowed from his blade in the form of a crescent, where ice spikes sprung from the crescent shaped ice and tried to impale the Kiri nuke-nin.

Luckily though for Kisame he was able to jump up into the air in time and avoid being impaled by the ice spikes.

When Kisame dodged the spikes, Ansiu quickly swung Hyōrinmaru in an arc and cried out "Guncho Tsurara (Icicle Flock)!" creating a dozen or so ice daggers made out of the moisture in the air and fired them at Kisame, who was still in mid-air.

Seeing the Ice daggers coming towards him Kisame, quickly rose Samehada up in front of him and used the half bandaged sword as a shield to protect him from the ice daggers.

After blocking the ice daggers Kisame, quickly landed back on the ground, where he then looked towards Ansiu and smirked, "Not bad, but if that's all that the legendary Hyōrinmaru can do, then this won't be much of a fight", spoke the smirking Kisame.

After Kisame said this, a white aura appeared around Hyōrinmaru, where Anisu just smirked, "You will soon regret those word Kisame-san, when you see the true power of Hyōrinmaru" spoke Ansiu, where he then roared out "Sit Upon the Frozen Heavens… Hyōrinmaru!" After which a powerful pulse of Chakra was felt throughout the cave and the surrounding area, causing those, who were battling in the cave to stop fighting and look toward Anisu and Kisame. Where when they did, they heard a loud thundering roar, like some kind of giant monster roaring from the heavens, soon after that, the sky began to darken as thick black storm clouds could be seen from the hole in the ceiling.

"What the hell?" though Deidara as he looked up to the sky through the whole in the ceiling, as she stopped in mid throw, when he was about to throw another one of his bomb.

"What was that power?" thought Rēsā.

"Was that the power of one of the Celestial Swords?" thought Pain in wonder, where he looked towards Anisu as he held up his Katana. For even though he had seen what Naruto could do with the Sword of Tengu from Zetsu recording, feeling the power of another one of the three Celestial swords first hand was another thing, as it was beyond anything he imagined.

Also at the same time, the air in the cave began to get very cold, where many it the cave could not help but shiver slightly from the cold, and could even see their breath.

After feeling the massive Chakra pulse coming from Hyōrinmaru, Kisame grew slightly cornered, yet also excited at the same time. As he stared at the now glowing white Katana, he also noticed that a crescent-shaped blade attached to the Katana's hilt by a long metal chain appeared, which Anisu was swinging around with his other hand. Seeing all this Kisame decided to strike first, where he did a few quick hand-seals and cried out "Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Shark Bullet Technique)!"

Seeing the large Water shark missile heading for him, Anisu quickly raised Hyōrinmaru and roared "Hyōryū (Ice Dragon)!" where a large flow of ice shaped like a giant Chinese Dragon flew from the tips of Hyōrinmaru blade.

The Two attacks quickly collided with one another, where as soon as they did, the Water Shark almost instantly froze and shattered into a thousand pieces.

After freezing and destroying the Water shark, the Ice Dragon continued on towards Kisame, who slightly cursed and tried to dodge the Ice Dragon. But was unable to fully do so as Samehada and his right hand where caught in residual of the attack and were frozen.

"Now that more like it, but if you think and tin sheet of ice over Samehada and my hand is going to handicap me, then you sadly mistaken", spoke Kisame, with a sadistic grin.

Although that grin quickly faded, and turned into a frown when she saw that the ice still covered Samehada and his hand, instead of shattering, after Samehada drained all the Chakra from the ice covering it. This frown deepened when he smashed Samehada onto the ground, trying to break the ice, but the ice did not break.

At seeing this Anisu, smirked, knowing why Kisame couldn't break the ice and free his hand and sword.

"Something wrong?" asked Ansiu with a knowing smirk.

"What the hell did you do?" asked Kisame angrily, as he knew that this ice was no ordinary ice.

"As you now no doubt know, the ice that's covering your sword and hand is not ordinary ice, as it is ice specially created by Hyōrinmaru itself, where it is as strong as steel and is extremely resistant to most Fire Ninjutsu. Not only that, but anyone that is frozen within the ice cannot use their Chakra to free themselves, as it suppresses any and all Chakra in a person. Along with any special abilities that they may have, like Samehada's Chakra absorbing power", answered Anisu, with a smile as he saw the angry and disbelieving look on Kisame's face when he heard this. But what Anisu, left out was that the ice would not melt for three days, meaning Kisame sword and hand would be frozen for the next three days.

When Kisame learned about the ice's special ability he swore violently, as he knew that this put him at serious disadvantage. For as of right now, Samehada was basically sealed away from him, where he could not use it to absorb any of Anisu Chakra, or absorb any of his Ninjutsu attack's. Not only that, he couldn't use the Chakra Samehada absorbed to heal himself and he would also have to avoid all of Ansiu's large scale ice attacks, for fear of having more parts of his body being frozen. Along with that he was at further disadvantage of, where he could use any of his Ninjutsu, as his right hand was frozen and he couldn't do, one handed hand-seals. But even with the serious disadvantage he was in, surrender was not in his vocabulary, hence he wasn't going to make this fight easy for Ansiu.

"So do you regret your decision now?" asked Anisu, with a confidant smirk, which annoyed Kisame. "Because if you have? You can always surrender".

"Ha! You wish brat" sneered Kisame, as he quickly got into a fighting stance with Samehada, (As it was still had use as a weapon), where he quickly charged forward at Ansiu, who in turn did the same towards Kisame, where the two Swordsmen, clashed swords with one another again.

-With Byakuya and Zetsu-

After the Chakra pulse from Hyōrinmaru faded away, Byakuya turned back to face his opponent or opponents if you wanted to be precise.

Ever since he came face to face with his target, Byakuya had been trying to hit his target, by using his Senbonzakura no Jutsu (Thousand Cherry Blossoms Technique). Unfortunately though, Zetsu kept using his Kagerō (Mayfly) technique to merge with ground and avoid Byakuya's attack, as well as trying to hit him from behind. But each time his attacks would be blocked by the thousands of blade like Sakura petals that protected Byakuya, much like how Gaara's sand would react, and force Zetsu back.

Seeing that he was getting no-where with this Byakuya did two quick hand-seals and spoke out "Kōbaton: Shimaneki Sō (Plant Release: Death Bringer Weed)! (T)"

Upon which Zetsu appeared out of the ground wrapped tightly in several strong thick vines unable to move. Seeing the that he had Zetsu, Byakuya decided to end the fight, where he had the thousands of Chakra enhanced Sakura petals fly towards the trapped and struggling Zetsu from multiple different angles, leaving no chanced of escape. Where they then flew around the trapped Zetsu in pillar like formation, where they swirled around him with great speed. After which they then flew into Zetsu from every possible angle, leaving no blind spots and no possibility to escape and collapsed on itself, cutting Zetsu into thousands of small pieces.

But just when Byakuya thought the battle was done, not one two Zetsu's appeared out of the ground on either side of him, where a black Zetsu appeared on his left hand side, while a white one appeared on his right hand side.

Narrowly seeing them coming at him from both sides, Byakuya quickly jumped backwards, barely avoiding the two jointed attacks.

At the same time when Byakuya was jumping away, he brought his arms forwards and cried out "Koutaton: Hana Shuriken: Hikarakuyō (Plant Release: Flower Shuriken: Falling Blossoms and Scattering Leaves)!" where several dozen spinning flowers shurikens shot out of his sleeves and flew at the two Zetsu's.

Seeing them the black and white Zetsu's quickly sank back into the ground and avoided the flower shurikens, after which the two Zetsu reappeared and re-joined with one another.

After seeing this, Byakuya kept his calm blank facade up, not wanting to give anything away, after which he then tried to have his Senbonzakura no Jutsu attack Zetsu again from different angles. But once again the Akatsuki member used his Kagerō technique to sink into the group and avoided the thousands of blade like Sakura petals.

As Byakuya searched around for Zetsu, his Shinobi senses suddenly kicked in telling him to move, where as soon as he did, Zetsu appeared from the ground right underneath him. But even though he was able to avoid Zetsu's sneak attack, Zetsu was still able to touch Byakuya's left leg.

Soon after Zetsu once again reappeared out of the ground in front of Byakuya, but before Byakuya could make any kind of attack, something appeared from his body and restricted his moved as it wrapped itself around him. After which and white Zetsu appeared out of the substance that was now covering his body.

"Tell us how do you like our Hōshi no Jutsu (Spore Technique), as not only does it bind you and restrict your movements but also drains you of your Chakra" spoke black Zetsu.

"Hehehehe, So much for the mighty Kuchiki Clan of New Kumo" laughed white Zetsu, as he saw Byakuya struggle in trying to remove the white Zetsu on him.

At hearing the original white Zetsu remark, Byakuya narrowed his eyes in anger "Prepare yourself fool, as you'll pay for your insult towards my Clan", spoke Byakuya coldly. After which he summoned his Sakura petals towards him, where he then had them swirl around him in a large pillar of Sakura petals, much like what he earlier with Zetsu.

"What's he trying to do? Is he trying to kill himself?" asked white Zetsu in confusion.

"I don't know" replied black Zetsu as he saw the swirling pillar of Sakura petals fly around Byakuya and the white Zetsu on him.

But soon enough the Zetsu question was answered, where the pillar of Sakura petals died down and Byakuya stood in the centre unharmed, with the white Zetsu spore cut into pieces.

"He used the Sakura petal blades to cut the spore off him, while at the same time not cutting him as well" spoke black Zetsu in surprise as her realized what happened.

"But how?" asked white Zetsu in surprise, as he found it hard to accept, that Byakuya control all those Sakura petals so well that cut the spores of his body, while at the same time make sure that they would cut him as well. As to do something like that would take unparalleled concentration and control and not once lose focus.

"Do you honestly believe, that I' am such a novice that would fall to my own attack" replied Byakuya coldly. After which he sent a whirling vortex of Sakura petals towards Zetsu, who in turn narrowly avoid, but received several cuts from the attack.

After narrowly avoiding Byakuya's attack Zetsu then quickly created six white clones of himself, where after seeing this, Byakuya quickly realized that it was a white Zetsu clone that he had wrapped in his Koubaton: Shimaneki Sō (Plant Release: Death Bringer Weed) earlier, and the real Zetsu had replaced himself with it just before he emerged from the ground.

But what Byakuya didn't expect was that the clones that Zetsu, turned into copies of Byakuya himself.

Zetsu was able to do this thanks to his Narikawari no jutsu (Substitute Technique), where after touching Byakuya, Zetsu was able to create a perfect copy of Byakuya, where after being fully formed all six Byakuya clones spoke out "Senbonzakura no Jutsu!" Upon which thousands of Sakura petals flew out of their sleeves, the same way that they died when the real Byakuya first used the technique. After which the six separate waves of Sakura petals blades flew towards the real Byakuya with tremendous speed.

Byakuya, quickly reacted to this new assault by calling his Sakura petals back and had them create a spiralling sphere made up of thousands of Sakura petals around him and used them to protect him from the assault. After which in an impressive feet of power, he forced the clones attacks back, causing the clones Senbonzakura attacks to scatter. After forcing the attacks back, Byakuya went on the offensive.

For the next few minutes, Byakuya fought a fierce battle with the copies of himself, while Zetsu stood back and watch and despite being outnumbered and the clones able to mimic his abilities, he was able to fight them to a deadlock.

But he soon decided to finish this and to take all six clones out in one go, where he did a few quick hand-seals a spoke out "Senkei (Slaughterscape)!" after which a black dome surrounded Byakuya and his clones, while leaving Zetsu outside to wait. Inside the black dome, Byakuya and his clones where surrounded by thousands of floating glowing swords, numbering in the thousands, and in rows with one on top of the other constantly moving around and with the rows raising right up like a pillar into the roof of the black dome.

Seneki was Byakuya's most powerful Genjutsu, where Byakuya could mentally control these swords to move where he wants and can make the opponent feel pain, as if they had been really cut or stabbed by a real sword. The technique also keeps anyone from outside from entering, as when someone enters the black dome, they would simply walk back unaware of what they done, due to the Genjutsu.

After Byakuya trapped himself and the clones inside the pillar of glowing swords, the clones went on the offensive and launched a combined assault on him, where they combined their own separate attacks into one single giant wave of Sakura petals and launched it at Byakuya. At the same time as well, the Byakuya clones created several plant vines out of the ground and wrapped themselves around him and restrained him, giving him no chance to defend himself.

But even despite all this, Byakuya did not look the lease bit worried and remained perfectly calm, where just as the giant wave of Sakura petals were about on top of him. He had several dozen of the swords circling around them fly from their position around them and pierce the clones, causing the clones to lose focus and the attack fall apart.

After the giant Sakura wave collapsed, Byakuya broke out of the plant vines and slowly walked towards the clones, who were still standing but unable to move, as they were pierced by several blades. Where each of the hands and feet had a glowing sword pierced through it, and several others pierced through their chests, keeping them stuck to the ground in a standing position. Even though the swords where just an illusion, the pain still felt real to the clones and kept them from moving.

Once he was close enough to the clones, Byakuya raised his hands and simply spoke out Senbonzakura no Jutsu his own Sakura petals along with the clones flew into the air at his command. After which he hand the Sakura petal swirling around the clones in a large dome and then had it close in on them, where it completely shredded the clones into pieces.

When the Genjutsu finally fell, Zetsu saw that all that was left of his clones was a small pool of blood on the ground in front of Byakuya. Seeing that his clones had been defeated Zetsu frowned with announce, for even though he wasn't surprised that his clones lost, as Narikawari no jutsu was not strong enough to fight an extended battle, which was why he used it for diversion when fighting an enemy. He had hoped that they would at least weaken or wound Byakuya, which they clearly did not, given that Byakuya was unharmed.

"Did you honestly think that these mere copies would be enough to defeat me?" asked Byakuya as he stared at Zetsu coolly.

"No not really, but I had hoped they would at least injury you a little" spoke white Zetsu.

"I see…then allow me to the show you the errors of your judgement in my skill and power, for I will now show you the true horrors of what it is like to face against a member of the Kuchiki Clan" replied Byakuya in a cool and deadly tone. After which he called out his Sakura petal once more and prepared for battle, where Zetsu did the same and prepared to continue the battle.

-With Tobi and Yuki Nadie-

As the battled raged between the Akatsuki members and the members of the Hachiman Force in the large cave, another pair where battling equally fiercely, but yet neither was able to hit the other. This was because the opponents in question were the Aktasuki member Tobi and Yuki Nadie.

The reason that neither of them was able deal and kick of injury with one another was that due to their own similar yet unique abilities. As whenever Nadie tried to stab Tobi with a Kunai or throw one at him, or hit him with a Jutsu he would use his Jikūkan Idō (Space–Time Migration) to make himself intangible.

Tobi himself also had the same problem with Nadie, as whenever he tried to hit Nadie, she would use her Tsuuka no Iki (The Passing through Spirit limit) to phase right through Tobi's attacks.

For a while this was how the battled proceeded, with neither one gaining an advantage over the other, but after a while Nadie notice that Tobi technique had a several weaknesses. The first was like her, where he would have to solidify himself to make any kind of attack like on someone. The other was that he could only make himself intangible for five minutes, unlike her, where he would they transport himself away to avoid any attacks. Unlike her as Nadie could keep herself intangible for long periods, although the side effect of that was that the longer she kept herself intangible or was phasing in and out of things, the more Chakra she ate up, where if she ran out of Chakra she could no longer phase. Also Nadie notice that even when his five minutes weren't up and he wanted to transport to a different location, he would've to make himself tangible to transport away.

Realizing these weaknesses Nadie made a plan to get him, where she timed the five minutes he was intangible, while she was attacking him, so that he wouldn't get suspicious. When the time was up and before Tobi could transport away, Nadie launched several shurikens at him.

Seeing the shurikens coming at him, Tobi quickly and skilfully avoided the shurikens without too much trouble, but what he didn't know was that this was part of Nadie's plan, as she had elastic and highly durable translucent string tied to the shurikens. Where she used her Sōshuriken no Jutsu (Manipulated Shuriken Technique) to control the shurikens and comeback, where she had the wrap around Tobi and before he could transport away she funnelled some Lightning Chakra down the strong to shock Tobi and temporarily disable him.

After Tobi cried in pain from being electrocuted by the Lightning Chakra and fell to the ground Nadie, immediately took out Kunai and raced forward to finish Tobi off. But before she could deliver the final blow, Tobi somehow recovered and was able to teleport away before Nadie could hit him. He then reappeared behind Nadie with a Kunai in hand and tried to stab her in the back, but fortunately though Nadie had predicted this, as he tried such tactics earlier on in the fight. Hence when she saw him teleport away, she activated her phasing ability just in time to avoid being killed, where after being "stabbed" by Tobi she flipped forwards and did a three-sixty degree spin when she landed, so that she would come face to face with her enemy.

"You're good…you're very good…but not as good as Tobi…as Tobi will not lose, as Tobi is a good boy" spoke Tobi.

"We'll see about that" replied Nadie with a sight frown before she charged forward at her opponent and continued his fight.

-With Zhuge Liang and Deva Path-

After deflecting another of Zhuge Liang's attack with his Shinra Tensei, Deva Path immediately clapped his hands together and cried out "Fūton: Reppūshō (Wind Style: Violent Wind Palm)" and created a power gale of Wind.

Reacting quickly, Zhuge Liang countered the attack by waving his feathered fan and crying out "Fūton: Kyōfū (Wind Style: Strong Wind)! (U)" and created a powerful gust of Wind that clashed with Pain's. Where when the two attacks collided there was a powerful explosion of Wind that forced the two men to channel Chakra to the bottom of their feet, so to keep themselves from being blown away by the force of the Wind blast.

"You countered that well, but it will take much more than that, if you hope to defeat me" spoke Deva Path as he stared at Zhuge Liang with a calm calculative look.

"Very well then, but you shall regret those words Pain", spoke Zhuge Liang, where he did a series of high speed one-handed hand-seals, in the space of only a few seconds and then calmly said "Magen: Shin'en no Meiō (Demonic Illusion: Dark King of the Abyss) (V)" as he waved his fan.

After which there was a powerful explosion, that evenloped and destroyed the entire Cave and propelled Deva Path high into the sky.

"Impossible!...The entire cave!" thought Pain in disbelief, as he saw the entire cave being engulfed in bright light and a powerful explosion.

Right after the explosion, Deva Path found himself stopping high up in mind air, where when he looked up he to the sky he saw the sky tear open, but before he could think more on what was happining right now. He suddenly found himself being wrapped up in severa dozen binding ropes, holding him in place. Then much to his horror and disbelief the tear in the sky fully opened revealing a gigantic demon who reached out to him (Deva Path).

"What short of Jutsu is this?" thought Pain with disbelief, as he knew this could not be real and had to be some kind of Genjutsu. Reacting quickly Deva Path released a powerful burst of Chakra from his body and overloaded the Genjutsu and freed himself from it.

After breaking the Genjutsu, Deva Path buckled slightly and started to path a sweat a little, as he caught his breath, as the Jutsu had felt so real. Soon enough though Pain regained himself and stared at his opponent, "Whatever Genjutsu that was, it was indeed powerful, as I bearly escaped it... the Nemuriryu (Sleeping Dragon) certainly lives up to his reputation" thought Pain.

"Your Genjutsu skills are indeed formable, but do you really think that mere illusions will be enough to defeat me" spoke Deva Path after he regained himself.

"Impressive…Not many people have escaped my Shin'en no Meiō Genjutsu" replied Zhuge Liang, "But still you've noticed a bit too late...Kaminari no Fūin (Thunder Seal)! (W)".

"What?" thought Pain in confusion, where suddenly a large glowing seal appeared underneath Deva Path. It was then that Deva Path realised that Zhuge Liang's illusion was just a distraction, to keep Deva Path occupied, so that he could formed this seal around him (Deva Path).

As soon as the seal started to glow, Lightning suddenly started to eminate from it, where it began to pulse through Deva Path's body and electrocuting him, casuing him severe pain and burns to appear on his body and preventing him from moveing, where soon after activating, it exploded.

After the seal exploded with Deva Path in it, Zhuge Liang smiled with satifaction believe he had killed him, fortunately that pleasant thought ended, where he heard Pain voice cry out "Shinra Tensei!" After Zhuge Liang jumped away, he narrowly avoided the powerful gavitatial forced that hit the spot that he was just standing in a moment ago, which created a medium size crater in the ground.

After avoiding the attack, Zhuge Liang looked up and saw Deva Path fall to the ground and land perfectly on it. When Zhuge Liang saw this he knew that Deva Path had avoided being destroyed in the blast, by somehow using his Shinra Tensei to propelled him up into the air, just as blast was happening.

"You're indeed a formable opponent Zhuge Liang-sama, but you cannot hope defeat me by yourself, for I' am God" spoke Deva Path.

At this only smirked with confidence, as if he knew something that Pain did not, "Perhaps, but there is something that you do not know of the Shinobi's of New Kumo".

"And what is that?" asked Deva Path with a frown.

"The Shinobi's of New Kumo never fight alone" answered Zhuge Liang with a smile, where as soon as he did, there was a large explosion that came from the main entrance to the cave, which had been sealed by a massive bolder just a moment ago.

-Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OST 2 - Xing Symphony-

After the explosion at the cave's main entrance over two hundred New Kumo STORM Ninja's sped out of the smoke filled entrance and charged straight at the Akatsuki members, who were still battling with the Hachiman Force members.

At the same time another hundred STORM Ninja's jumped down from the hole in the ceiling that Zhuge Liang created earlier, when he and the other Hachiman members first arrived and like with the other STORM Ninja's that came from the cave entrance, they began to attack the Akatsuki members.

But as surprised as the Akatsuki members were about the arrival of Kumo elite STORM division, the thing that surprised them most was what the STORM Ninja's were wearing. This was the special Chakra armour that was developed by Yukigakure (Hidden Snow) and its former leader Dotō. The Akatsuki members were of course familiar with the Chakra armour, as they had heard the reports about how the armour drained chakra from many different types of Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, while at the same time amplifies the wearer's chakra.

This of course put the Akatsuki at an even greater disadvantage, as they knew that the STORM ninja's were all highly skilled Shinobi, trained specially to take down other ANBU divisions and high level Shinobi's from other nations. Not to mention the fact, that they were now wearing Chakra armour, which helped protect them from most types of Ninjutsu and Genjutsu (with the exception being very high level ones like Chidori, Rasengan and Tsukuyomi). This made battling against the STORM Ninja's very difficult for the Akatsuki members, not to mention the fact that the armour's had clearly been improved over time. As originally multiple wearers of the armour had to be careful not to be too close to one another, as the armour was highly unstable and would explode on contact with another suit. But clearly now was not the case given how all the STORM Ninja's were wearing them, and how they were in close proximity of one another and were unafraid to be near one another.

As several STORM Ninja's charged straight for Deva Path, Pain cursed himself for not realizing that more New Kumo Shinobi's would be nearby and come, he cursed himself further for allowing himself and the rest of his group to be distracted. As he had realized, that Zhuge Liang and his group had attacked first because each member had been specially chosen to face against a certain member of the Akatsuki, due to certain skills they had. Where each member of the Hachiman Force, could easily hold their own against the Akatsuki members they been ordered to target and hold them off until the main force arrived.

He was also willing to beat the other reason why the Hachiman Force was sent first, was because they knew that when facing a not too large force he (Pain) and the rest of the Akatsuki would stay and fight. Whereas if the New Kumo force had all attacked at once, then he and the rest of the Akatsuki would've fled immediately. Since given the terrain that they were in now. None of the Akatsuki members could fight to their full capability and use any of their more powerful Justu's to fight back and defeat their opponents. At least not without hitting their own allies, as well or bringing the entire cave down on top of them, giving the New Kumo Shinobi's an even bigger advantage than they already had.

-With Kisame and Anisu-

The first group of STORM-nins immediately raced towards Kisame, who was still battling with Anisu, when the STORM-nins were close enough to Kisame. Several of them quickly used Suiton: Suiben (Water Style: Water Whip), where they wrapped several Water whips around Kisame's arms, legs and torso. After which they channelled Lightning Chakra through the Water whips, shocking the former Kiri swordsman and restrained him. Upon which Anisu raised Hyōrinmaru up roared out "Hyoryu (Ice Dragon)!" where a massive Drahon made out of ice erupted once again from his sword, and headed straight for the restrained Kisame.

Seeing the giant Ice Dragon heading straight for him, Kisame knew he had to do something quickly, where in an incredible feat of strength and despite being repeatedly shock by the Lightning that was being channelled through the Water whips. Kisame was able to pull the two STORM Shinobi's that were pulling on both his arms from either side of him, towards him. Where in firther feat of great strength, he was then able to swing the two STORM-nins in front of the Ice Dragon, and used them as a shield to block the attack and were sealed inside the ice.

After blocking Anisu Ice Dragon attack, Kisame then quickly used the ice covered Samehada to cut himself free from the Water whips. Although as soon as he did the rest of the STORM Shinobi charged forward, where several of them took out their Katana's and charged them up with Lightning Chakra and attacked Kisame. Who immediately used Samehada to defend himself, and pushed several STORM-nins back, with his brute strength.

But this in itself was just a distract, where as soon as Kisame had pushed the STORM Shinobi back five more surrounded him and out their own individual Jutsu's.

"Suiton: Mizu Teppō (Water Style: Water Gun)!"

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique)!"

"Doton: Doryūdan (Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet)!"

"Fūton: Shinkū Taigyoku (Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere)!"

"Raiton: Hiraishin (Lightning Style: Flying Thunder God)!"

Seeing the multiple attacks coming at him from all direction Kisame quickly jumped up into the air to avoid the attack, where they collided with one another, causing a large explosion.

But just when Kisame thought he was safe she suddenly found himself being wrapped around by and chain with a crescent-shaped blade attached to it, where it pinned his arms to his body, keeping him from moving. At the same time he also noticed that his body was staring to freeze, when the chain wrapped itself around him. Upon which Kisame was then pulled down to the ground by Anisu, the owner of the chain, which was connected to the hilt of his Katana.

When Kisame hit the ground, he suddenly found himself surrounded by the remaining other STORM Shinobi members, who had their weapons drawn and pointed at the Kiri nuke-nin.

-With Itachi and Mitsuhide—

After dodging several Lightning enhanced Kuni's and Shurikens, Itachi quickly looked back up at his opponents, where he was facing against over a dozen or so STORM Shinobi's along with his original opponent Mitsuhide.

For the past few minutes since the STORM Shinobi's arrived, he had been put on the defensive, where the STORM-nins proved their reputation as skilled and deadly Shinobi's. The STORM-nins worked in perfect union with one another and defended each other whenever Itachi tried to go one the offensive and then counter attack, making him go back on the defensive

As Itachi tried to hold off his multiple opponents, one of the STORM-nins threw several Shurikens at him, at the same time another STORM-nin did some high speed hand-seals and cried out "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" creating a large fireball. Upon which the large fireball combined with the flying Shurikens and infused with them it flames, making them into flaming Shurikens and enhancing their lethality.

Seeing the fire enhance Shurikens and the large fireball coming at him, Itachi quickly tried to avoid the attacks, but could not fully avoid them and was caught in the blast slightly and was thrown several feet back.

As soon as he landed back on his feet, Itachi then found himself being wrapped by several pieces of strong Ninja wire, pinning his arms between, where the four STORM-nins that bounded him channelled their Lightning Chakra through the wire and electrocuting him.

After a minute or so, the four STORM Shinobi's stopped channelling their Lightning Chakra through the wire and moved in to subdue Itachi, but as soon as they did "Itachi" blew up. Revealing that at some point before being wrapped in the Ninja wire by the four STORM shinobi's, Itachi had replaced himself with a clone and had it blow up blasting the four STORM shinobi's away.

Thankfully though the armour that the STORM-nins were wearing, protected them from the majority of the blast, where they were simply knocked out, after being blasted away.

After the Itachi clone was blew up, the real Itachi reappeared not too far from the blast, although as soon as he did Mitsuhide appeared next to him and swung his Katana to try and slash at Itachi.

Fortunately, Itachi was able to jump away from the slash with just a slight cut on his left arm, but as soon as he jumped away Mitsuhide swung his Katana again and created a crescent shaped blade of Wind, which flew straight for Itachi.

Seeing the blade of Wind coming for him, quickly sidestepped the attack, and countered with Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu, forcing Mitsuhide to move away and dodge the small fire balls. But after dealing with Mitsuhide, Itachi then had to jump up into the air, to avoid several Kunai's, Shurikens and jutsu's that were fired at him by the remaining other STORM Shinobi's, who had targeted him. As Itachi was in mid-air, he saw that his partner Kisame in trouble, where Kisame was wrapped in a chain that was slowing freezing him. He also saw that Kisame was currently surrounded by several dozen STORM Shinobi's, giving him no real chance of escaping.

Knowing that he needed to help his partner, Itachi did a series of Lightning fast hand-seals, where most of the STORM-nins could even see him doing seals, let alone one. After which Itachi took in a deep breath and exhaled several massive fireballs, forcing the STORM-nins to scatter.

As soon as the STORM-nins had scattered Itachi quickly took out his short sword and channelled his Chakra into it to increase its cutting power and sped towards Kisame. Seeing Itachi speeding towards them four of the STORM-nins that surrounded Kisame tried to block Itachi's path. But Itachi proved too skilled for them, as he quickly avoided this strikes and slashes with their Katana's and quickly dispatched the STORM-nins by slashing and wounding them with his sword.

After which he threw several high speed shurikens at the remaining other STORM-nins that surrounded Kisame, forcing them to move away from him, where Itachi cut the chain that was wrapped around Kisame. Who broke free of that ice that was covering his abdomen, as it wasn't properly set.

-End Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OST 2 - Xing Symphony-

"Thanks Itachi I owe one", spoke Kisame as he stood back to back with his partner.

"Do not thank me yet Kisame", spoke Itachi as he narrowed his Sharingan eyes, as he saw Mistsuhide and the his STORM Shinobi's join up with Anisu and his remaining other STORM Shinobi's, who had now surrounded the two Akatsuki members.

As Kisame faced his opponents he saw a familiar face among the large group of blue and black masked wearing Shinobi's, this person was none other than his former comrade and fellow swordsman of the Mist, Mitsuhide.

"Well, Well, Well, it's been a long time hasn't it Mitsuhide?" spoke Kisame with a Shark like grin.

"Kisame" spoke Mitsuhide coolly as he narrowed his eyes, "You're responsible many heinous crimes against our former village that and the murder of countless people".

"Please, spare me that righteous act of your Mitsuhide, you and I both know that your hands are far from being clean or have you forgotten your moniker Shirotakai no Kiri (Mist's White Death), not to mention all the Kiri Shinobi's you killed in recent years, after you turned traitor".

"You're correct my hands are indeed stained with the blood of many of my former comrades, but I can at least pay penance in some part for what I've done by delivering your head to Kiri", replied Mitsuhide. Upon which he redrew his Katana and prepared to take on the former Kirigakure no Kaijin (Monster of the Hidden Mist).

"Uchiha Itachi, I've heard a great deal about you and given the state of Mitsuhide-sensei and many of our STORM Shinobi's are in I can certainly say that you live up to my expectations" spoke Anisu as he started at the famed Uchiha.

"And you're the famed Seiwa Anisu the Koorisui no Kami (God of Ice and Water), also known as Kumo no Aisuryu (Ice Dragon of Kumo), conqueror of Kirigakure (Hidden Mist) and Mizu no Kuni (Water Country)" replied Itachi, before turning his gaze to Anisu sword. "And judging by the power I felt earlier, that is another one of the three Celestial swords".

"Correct and I would be more than happy to show you what it's capable of" answered Anisu with a sinister smirk, where he and the others then attacked.

-With Yoruichi, Soifon and Senchi Rēsā-

With the arrival of the STORM Shinobi's things became a lot more hectic for Rēsā as he spent most of his time dodging avoiding different attacks from different Shinobi's.

It got even worse for him when Soifon and Yoruichi used their Shunkō (Flash Cry), to increase their speed and strength, allowing them to easily keep up with Rēsā.

After avoiding another one of Soirfon's strikes, Rēsā came under attack by a STORM-nin who tried to slash at him in the back with his Tanto blade. But quickly used his Jinton: Mueishō (Swift Release: Shadowless flight) Technique to avoid being hit, where he then reappeared behind the STORM-NIN and used his Jinken (Swift Fist) (X), and unleashed a flurry of hard hitting fists on the STORM-nin, cracking his armour and sending him flying several feet away.

After dealing with the STORM-nin another STORM Shinobi nearby used Doton: Doryū Taiga (Earth Style: Earth Flow River) to create a river of mud, making Rēsā lose his balance.

Taking advantage of this a female STORM Shinobi charged up her hand with Lightning Chakra and formed it into a compressed ball of Lightning in her hand and cried out "Sandā Appu (Thunder Up)!" Where she then disappeared and reappeared right in front of Rēsā and tried to hit him in the chest with it. Sadly though Rēsā, avoided the attack with a backwards flip, as he couldn't use his Jinton, due to having no grip on the ground thanks to the river of mud underneath him.

When Rēsā did the backwards flip, he then did a three-sixty degree mid-air spin to kick the female STORM-nin in the side and sent her flying sideways. After which he then disappeared and reappeared in front of the STORM-nin that created the river of mud earlier and cried out "Jinkyaku (Swift Kick)! (Y)" and unleashed a rapid assault of kicks on the STORM Shinobi, breaking his armour and sending him flying backwards.

But just as Rēsā did this, he was sent flying sideways himself into the nearby cave wall, by an upside-down spin kick from Soifon. Whose kick was enhanced thanks to her Shunkō.

After being kicked into the wall, Rēsā barely managed to escape a Shunkō enhanced punch from Yoruichi, who appeared in front of Rēsā right after he hit the wall. The reason he only managed to escape was because he had combined his Jinton and Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) to avoid the powerful punch, which had done serious damage to the wall, when he avoided Yoruichi's punch. Showing, that if he hadn't avoided the hit, he would surely have been killed by Yoruichi's Shunkō enhanced punch.

After avoiding Yoruichi's punch, Rēsā reappeared a bit away and faced his opponents, where he spat out some blood. As he did he frowned at the number of skilled opponents he was faced against. Normally when faced against large number he could easily handle them, but that was usually because they couldn't keep up with his speed. Even when he was faced with people who could challenge his speed, he at least had wide open terrain to battle them on, where he could eventually overwhelm them. But this time he had neither the advantage of terrain or ability or even numbers, making this an unfair battle for him.

But as he was thinking over his situation, Rēsā was forced to put his focus back on the battle as he saw his enemies charge forward, towards him.

-With Uzumaki Takara, Ichigo and Amako Saikyo-

Blocking another one of Takara's punches Saikyo pushed the young Kunoichi back and delivered a powerful kick to her side sending her back a bit. After which Saikyo jumped away to avoid one of Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshō's.

But when he landed back on the ground he found himself being wrapped in several whips made out of Lightning. Saikyo immediately recognized the technique as Raiton: Tsuzuri Raiden (Lightning Style: Bound Thunder and Lightning) (Z), where as soon as he was bound by the Lightning whips. He felt the Lightning running through his entire body, electrocuting him and paralyzing his entire body.

Knowing he had to do something quickly, Saikyo quickly channelled his own Lightning Chakra through his body and let lose a massive amount of his Lightning Chakra and overwhelmed the Lightning whips free him.

Once he was free from the Lightning whips, Saikyo quickly caught his breath, after which he then gathered his Chakra to prepare one of his Jutsu's. Where once he gathered enough Lightning Chakra in his fist and amplified it with his bioelectric current, he thrust his fist forward and roared out "Raiton: Chōsen (Lightning Styles: Hyper Flash)!(AA)". After which a massive beam of Lightning energy exploded from his fist and shot forward at incredible speed, and straight for several STORM Shinobi's in front of him.

Seeing the massive blast of Lightning energy heading for them, three of the STORM Shinobi quickly began to do hand-seals and right before the attack could hit them and their comrades, they slammed their hands onto the ground and cried out "Kōton: Sanjū Kouheki (Steel Release: Triple Steel Wall)!(BB)". Upon which three large Walls of the Steel sprung forth from the ground and in front of the STORM-nins.

When Saikyo's Chōsen hit the first Steel Wall, the wall lasted a few seconds before it began to crack and then broke, the second wall, lasted a few seconds longer than the first, but it soon fell like the first. The third and final wall, lasted the longest, where it was then engulfed in a powerful explosion, which made the STORM Shinobi's skid back a bit. But when the explosion ended, the final Steel Wall still stood, showing that it withstood Saikyo's attack and protected the STORM-nins, although was covered in cracks, where a few seconds later it fell apart.

"Hmph, pretty impressive, not many things can withstand my Chōsen, it seems that Kyuubi jinchūriki has indeed made some serious improvements to the quality Shinobi's to my former village. As these STORM Shinobi's aren't half bad" thought Saikyo, although as he thought this, suddenly found his arms and legs bound, by steel chains, created by the same STORM Shinobi's who had blocked his attack.

"Hold him!" cried Ichigo to the Koton (Steel Release) users, as they used their Kōton: Kōse (Steel Release: Steel Shackles) and channelled their Lightning Chakra through the shackles, in the hope of holding him long for Ichigo to move in and slash him.

But unfortunately, Saikyo wasn't going to let this happen, where he then gathered his own Lightning Chakra and proved why he was ranked as an S ranked Shinobi by overpowering the four STORM-nins Lightning Chakra and sending his own enhanced Lightning Chakra back at them. Thereby shocking the four STORM-nins and forcing them to let go, and shattering the steel shackles with his raw power. After which Saikyo moved away to avoid Ichigo's attack, which gave him an opening to attack Ichigo's on his unguarded side, but as he charged up his gauntlets with his with his Lightning Chakra and before he could his Ichigo's unguarded side. Saikyo himself was blindsided by an unknown assailant, who delivered a powerful right hook that sent Saikyo flying into the cave wall, making a large dent in it.

As Saikyo, slowly picked himself, he found it difficult to move as his body was somehow numb from the hit, as he looked up saw that his attacker was none other than Takara, who used her Raiken (Thunder Fist) to hit him.

When he got back on his feet Saikyo had believed he had finally figured out the secret of Takara's Raiken, which was also used by her husband The Raikage. The Technique itself was similar enough Raiton no Yoroi (Lightning Release Armour) and his own Clan's Technique, where they used their own bioelectric current to enhance their strength and speed. But unlike those Techniques Raiken, simply enhances the power of a single hit like a punch or kick, amplifying it's the user destructive power immensely, while no using as much Chakra as Raiton no Yoroi would. Also as an added bonus, when user hits someone with his or her Raiken then the person's body will be temporarily disabled due to the Lightning Chakra running through their body, making them go numb and unable to move for a short period or at the very least slowing their movements down.

When he figured how Takara's technique worked he had to silently applaud the girl's skill in creating the technique, as it was a pretty impressive.

But even still, as he stared at his opponent he saw Ichigo and the rest of the STORM-nin group gather around her, where upon seeing this Saikyo frowned, as this battle was becoming more bothersome than he would've thought. After which he got into another fighting stance to continue his battle.

-With Uzumaki Kisaragi Yuffie and Animal Path-

As Yuffie dodged a bubble attack from the Giant Crustacean, she threw her fuma Shuriken at the Crustacean, where her Shuriken hit the Crustacean, but it bounced off the Giant Crustacean's hard shell.

Seeing this, Yuffie threw several Kunai's with exploding notes tied to them on it, where once they hit the Crustacean, they exploded, although the most they did to the Crustacean was make scorch marks of its shell. After seeing that her exploding notes did little harm to the large summons, Yuffie cried out to some of the STORM-nins, who were busy trying to kill the Animal Path.

"Hey you three, I want that overgrown crab roasted"

"Hai" replied the three STORM Shinobi's as left Animal path to the rest of their comrades and jumped into position in front of the giant Crustacean, where each did three quick hand-seals at high speed and finished at the same time, where they then cried out together "Katon Renkeijutsu: Karura (Fire Style: Co-Operation Technique: Garuda)!" After which the three STORM-nins each breathed a long stream of intense fire, which combine to form a flaming dragon, which flew straight for the giant Crustacean. Upon which it engulfed the large summons in flames burning it alive, where it screamed in pain.

"Finish him off Makaku!" cried Yuffie, as he large ape summons appeared over the giant Crustacean, with his large bo staff over his head, where he swung it down hard of the large summons killing instantly and causing it to puff away.

With another one of his summons defeated, Animal path narrowed his eyes in anger, where after dodging several, Wind, Fire and Lightning enhanced Shurikens, he slammed his hand on the ground and cried out "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" and summoned a large chimera-like chameleon with snake for a tail. The Chameleon also had a number of piercing on its body and had the Rinnegan, like all of the other summons that Yuffie had fought against.

Upon seeing the large summons, with Animal Path atop its head, Yuffie, Makaku and the STORM-nins quickly surrounded the summons and its master.

Seeing their situation Animal Path had its summons jump up into the air and latch onto the cave wall, where before any of the New Kumo Shinobi could attack them, the snaked-tailed Chameleon swallowed it summoner and then cloaked itself invisible so that none of the New Kumo Shinobi's could see them.

When the snake-tailed Chameleon cloaked itself invisible Yuffie and the STORM Shinobi's quickly formed a circle formation with Makaku in the centre, so that their backs were against one another and the summons couldn't sneak up on them.

Unfortunately the summons snake tail of the Chameleon could be used for offensive abilities, where the invisible snake tail extended from its main body and sunk up on an unsuspecting STORM-nin and bit him, causing the STORM-nin to cry out in pain and collapse because of the poison in the snakes' fangs.

When this happened the New Kumo Shinobi quickly broke apart from one another, fearing that they would be attacked liked their comrade.

After breaking apart one of the STORM-nins who was also a skilled medic quickly ran over to the fallen STORM-nin so that he could treat him for the poison.

At the same time Yuffie re-summoned Yukichi and told him to sniff out their target, as she knew how sensitive her summon was to smell.

Using his keen sense of smell Yukichi quickly located his target and dashed forward at astonishing speed, where before the snake-tailed Chameleon could react and move away, Yukichi jumped up into the air toward the invisible summons on the wall and slashed its side. Where a large amount of blood burst from its side from Yukichi's slash and made the large summons cry out in pain and became visible

Upon seeing the snake-tailed Chameleon the STORM Shinobi's let lose a fierce barrage of Kunai, Shurikens and other projections at it, piercing the large summons with countless weapons. After which a STORM-nin wearing a Hawk shaped mask drew out his Katana and channelled a large amount of his Wind Chakra to his Katana and swung it, while crying out "Fūton: Kazegetsu (Wind Style: Crescent Wind)! (DD)", creating a fast moving crescent blade of Wind, that sliced right through the snake-tailed Chameleon and cut it in two with no trouble.

As his snake-tailed summons was destroyed Animal Path quickly jumped out of the remains of his summons just before it puffed away. But as he jumped out, Yuffie quickly did some fast moving hand-seals and roared out "Raiton: Shūrai (Lightning Style: Lightning Strike)! (EE)" and sent a powerful bolt of Lightning at Animal Path.

When Animal Path saw the bolt of Lightning coming for him he tried to avoid it, but the attack was too fast for him to dodge and he was hit in the chest by the bolt of Lightning and was blasted into the nearby cave wall and imbedded into it, with a massive bleeding wound in his chest from the Lightning bolt.

Still able to move despite the wound he received, Animal Path tried to push himself out of the wall, but before he could, four STORM-nins pierced his hands and feet with their swords, nailing him into the wall and channelled their Lightning Chakra into him, making sure he could move. After this another STORM Shinobi appeared in front of Animal Path and pierced his stomach with his sword, after which he did some hand-seals and cried out the name of an unknown Jutsu to Pain, where a large seal formed around Animal Path, with the five swords that nailed Animal Path to the wall being used as focus points.

Once the Fūinjutsu was done, Animal Path eyes close, where its body slumped over, showing that Pain connection to Animal Path was severed.

-With Zhuge Liang and Deva Path-

"Shinra Tensei!" cried Deva Path has he used his technique to repulse four STORM-nins away and blast them to the other end of the cave.

As soon as Deva Path did this, a STORM-nin wearing a blue dog mask with black designs on it burst out of the ground with a Katana in his hand and slashed a Deva Path with it.

Fortunately though for Deva Path he was able to jump back just enough to avoid a serious cut, but there was a large slash cut on his Akastuki cloak, revealing his bare chest with a slight cut on it now, due to the slash of the STORM-nins Katana.

After avoiding the slash, Deva Path quickly brought his right arm forward where a Chakra Disruption Blade emerged from his sleeve.

Seeing it, the STORM-nin narrowly avoided a lethal stab from the blade, by moving just enough so that he was only stabbed in the shoulder by the blade. Which was lucky as the blade was seemingly sharp enough to pierce his armour. After which he pushed himself away, but as he did Deva Path one again used his Shinra Tensei to push the STORM-nin away.

But just as he dealt with the STORM Shinobi, another one appeared and wore a blue Tiger mask with Black designs. The STORM-nin then threw a single Kunai with a smoke bomb tied to it, where as soon as he used his Shinra Tensei to push the Kunai away, the smoke bomb exploded, creating a large smoke cloud, making it impossible for Deva Path to see where he opponents would come next.

As soon as the Cloud of smoke appear, the Tiger masked STORM-nin who threw the Kunai with the smoke bomb jumped into the smoke Cloud along with two other STORM-nins and used their skill in the Blind assassin art to locate Deva Path and attack him from all directions.

When the STORM-nins attack, Deva Path desperately tried to defend himself, but had little success as the STORM-nins were too fast and attacked from different directions. Soon enough Deva Path Akatsuki cloak and torn fairly well up and he had many cuts on his body, as he narrowly avoided each of their attacks. This was only because of his sharp senses that he had developed over the years from battle.

Once he was ready Deva Path then used his Shinra Tensei to blast away the smoke and the three STORM-nins away, but as he did he suddenly heard Zhuge Liang voice cry out "Now!", as he had been watching the battle and been gathering battle intelligence from the STORM-nins battle with Deva Path. Upon which he finally found the weakness of Deva Path's technique, thanks to both his own previous experience from fighting him and watching the STORM-nins.

From watching and studying the battle between the STORM-nins and Deva Path from a distance, he had realised that Deva Path couldn't use his pushing and repelling technique in succession, where there was a small interval between each time he can use it. He had also calculated that the interval between each time he could use Shinra Tensei only lasted five seconds, which didn't give much time for an attack, but it was enough for what he had planned.

After Deva Path blew away the smoke screen, along with the three STORM-nins in it, two more appeared out of the ground on either side of his, each holding one end of a long chain, where it came out of the ground from underneath Deva Path, and wrapped itself around Deva Path and tied him up and pinned his arms to his body.

When Deva Path saw this, he realised that the two STORM-nins had laid the chains underneath him, right before they appeared out of the ground. He also realised that Zhuge Liang had planned this and he had used the three STORM-nins to keep him distracted inside the smoke screen, long enough for the other two STORM-nins underground to lay the chain and trap him.

As soon as Pain was wrapped up in the chain, Zhuge Liang then struck, where he roared out "Raiton: Shūrai!" and fired a large Lightning bolt at Deva Path.

But just before the Lightning attack hit, an energy blast appeared and intercepted the Lightning blast right before it hit Deva Path, where it created a massive explosion, which blasted Deva Path and the two STORM-nins away.

As the smoke cleared from, Zhuge Liang could see Deva Path figure walking out of the smoke, where his cloak completely destroyed and the top portion of his body exposed, with many more cuts and injuries on it.

At seeing this Zhuge Liang saw this he narrowed his eyes and turned to the source of the laser blast that incepted his Shuurai. When Zhuge Liang turned he saw that Asura Path had been the source of the blast that incepted his attack, and saw that the laser blast had come from some kind of laser cannon that appeared out of Asura Path head.

Upon seeing this, Zhuge Liang quickly realised that, Pain had Asura Path intercept his attack, so to avoid losing his primary Path, but even though he had saved Deva Path, Pain had lost Asura Path. Since Asura Path had already suffered heavy damage from battling Hamrio, Tomoe and the STORM-nins (the group who were with them), where its saw-like "tail" had been destroyed, and had lost all but one of its arms. It also had a large hole in its stomach along with many smaller ones showing metal bits and wires, as well as suffered other heavy damage.

Hence when Asura used it laser head cannon to save Deva Path, it gave both Tomoe and Hamrio an opening that they exploited, where Hamrio severed Asura Path's lower half from its upper half, with his Naginata and Tomoe crushed the upper half with her fist, thanks to the increase boost of strength she got when using Koton: Mukankaku no Yoroi.

When Asura Path was destroyed, Pain also sensed his connection with Animal Path being removed at the same time, leaving him only four paths left, which he could tell would soon be reducing to zero, as Human Path was barely holding its own against the combine teamwork of Ayame, Kasumi and the STORM-nins with them.

Preta Path was being restrained by Ryu and several other STORM Shinobi's by wrapping chains around him, where Pain's control over him was about to be severed just like Animal Path.

Naraka Path was on the verge of also being dealt with by Omoi, C and the STORM-nins, Deva Path himself was not in great shape to fight much longer, as Zhuge Liang and two more STORM-nins appeared in front of him and were preparing to attack.

Pain could also see through Deva Path and all his other remaining Path's that his comrades were just in an equally if not worse situation that he was in now. He could see that Deidara, Konan, Zetsu and Rēsā, were all barely holding their opponents and the STORM-nins back and were on the verge of being overwhelmed by them and either being killed or captured.

He also saw that Itachi and Kisame had somehow joined up together, and were still holding their own well, despite the condition they were both in, but even still Pain could tell it would be only a matter of time. For they were both surround on all sides by over two dozen STORM Shinobi's and were also facing Akechi Mitsuhide and Seiwa Anisu, who according to the rumour's that Pain had heard, was nearly as powerful as The Raikage.

Pain also saw that Saikyo situation was not that much better off than Itachi and Kisame were, as like them he was still holding his own well. But he would eventually fall to the number of opponents he was now facing against.

Tobi on the other hand, from what Pain could tell through his Paths seemed to be fairing the best out of all the Akatsuki members, despite the fact he had lost his right arm and the top portion of his mask had broken (where it showed his forehead). For it seemed that Tobi had reached a deadlock with Nadie and the STORM-nins that were with her, who clearly were from the Yuki Clan like her, due to their phasing ability.

After seeing all this Pain decided that a tactical retreat was in order, as if they didn't flee now and continued fighting they would surely lose. As battling against multiple skilled opponents who knew most of their abilities and weakness in a cave, where they (the Akatsuki) couldn't use any of their stronger Jutsu's was not a situation from which they could win.

Deciding to act now before it was too late, Deva Path quickly did several quick hand-seals and slammed his hand onto the ground, where he had the Gedō Mazō (Demonic Statue of the Outer Path) return from whence it came from, after which he then spoke through all four of his remaining paths to the rest of the Akatsuki.

"This battle can no longer be won, retreat!" order Pain, after which he then reversed summoned Konan and all his remaining Paths including Asura, (who despite being several damage, was still connected to him), back to "his" location.

At hearing Pain's order Tobi quickly used his Jikūkan Idō transport himself over to Kisame and Itachi, where he touched the both on the shoulder and transported himself and them away.

Zetsu quickly used his Kagerō to merge himself with the ground to escape.

Deidara, quickly used his C2 technique to create a large clay dragon, where Rēsā used his Jinton to speed to Saikyo, take hold of him and race to Deidara and hopped onto the clay Dragon. The Dragon then took off with its passengers and flew towards the large hole in the ceiling, which Zhuge Liang and the other Hachiman Force member created, when they attacked.

"Stop them! Do not let them get away" ordered Zhuge Liang, were several dozen STORM Shinobi's and some of the Hachiman force members channelled their Chakra to their feet and jumped up into the air after them.

Seeing this Deidara, quickly got some more Clay and mixed his Chakra with it and created several dozen medium size clay birds, and sent them flying towards the New Kumo Shinobi's. Where he had them explode right before they came into contact with them, and before the New Kumo Shinobi's could use their Lightning to neutralise their exploding effects.

When the clay birds exploded they blasted back the majority the New Kumo Shinobi's with the exception of Yuffie who was on her Sparrow summons.

"Don't let them get away Hitakia! (10)" cried Yuffie to her large sparrow summons as they flew after the Clay Dragon and the remaining Akatsuki members.

Unfortunately, the Clay Dragon had too much of a head start over them to stop them from exiting the cave through the ceiling roof. This was because Yuffie and her summons had to move away to avoid the blast from Deidara's explosions, giving the Akatsuki members more time to escape.

But what the Akatsuki didn't know was that the New Kumo Shinobi's were prepared for such an event like this, where the moment that they flew out of the hole in the cave roof they came under assault from above.

When the Deidara and the others looked up they saw a New Kumo airship and three squadrons of Sky-Hawk Ninja's flying above them and fire at them.

"Shoot them down!" cried Kane, as he lead his squadrons to attack the Akatsuki members

Upon seeing the airship and the Sky-Hawk Ninja's Deidara quickly made several aerial maneuverers to avoid the flying projections and the Jutsu's sent by the Sky-Hawk Ninja's, as well as attacks from the New Kumo airship and its Lightning cannon.

But even still there was only so much he could do to avoid where the Clay Dragon took some hits.

Saikyo tried to help, where he fired some Lightning Jutsu' at them, but the Sky-Hawk Ninja's were skilled at avoiding attacks like these, although Saikyo was able to hit some of them, as did Deidara, with some C1 clay birds. But even then, they mainly only hit the Sky-Hawk Ninja's wings, as the Sky-Hawk Ninja's were able to avoid enough to not be killed, where they landed on the ground without any harm.

Rēsā helped out as well by throwing Shurikens and Kunai's at Sky-Hawk Ninja's, as there was little else he could do in aerial combat.

It got even worse for the Akatsuki members, where Yuffie and came out of the hole in the cave roof with her sparrow summons Hitakia, along with Anisu who used his flying technique (FF) to fly out of the cave. With Anisu arrival Deidara barely avoided several ice Dragons that Anisu created with Hyourinmaru while Yuffie summons Hitakia hit them with a powerful Wind Jutsu, that nearly force them to the ground.

And if things couldn't get any worse for the Akatsuki members, they did when, Zhuge Liang along with several other members of the Hachiman force, and many other STORM Shinobi's jumped out of the roof hole in the cave and started attacking them from the ground.

Seeing that they were on the verge of being capture Saikyo reacted quickly where he charged up his bioelectric current, along with a massive amount of Lightning Chakra and then told Deidara and Rēsā to close their eyes. After which he did some quick hand-seal and cried out "Raigen Raikōchū (Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning Pillar)!" where an extremely bright light emanated from the Saikyo's body, blinding everyone in the area with the bright Light.

With everyone blinded, the three remaining Akatsuki members flew away, where by the time the New Kumo Shinobi's recovered; they were too far away to catch.

"It seems that we failed in our mission Sensei, as out of the whole attack, we only captured one of Pain bodies", spoke Anisu with a slight frown, after he landed next to Zhuge Liang.

"Regrettably so", replied Zhuge Liang, "But we can at least take solace in the fact, we did what none of the other Shinobi villages have done…we fought toe to toe with all nine members of the Akatsuki at once. The most powerful and dangerous Nuke-nin organisation in the Shinobi world, and not only did we survive battle with them, but we made them flee and we did not even use our full might in it. The Akatsuki now know we've the strength to not only fight them but also destroy them, hence they will be wary to clash with us again".

"That is true, but next time they'll be ready for us, as we won't catch them off guard like this again. Not to mention as you said they now know we've the strength to destroy them, meaning that the next time we face them they'll have some sort of plan and that'll make them even more dangerous than before. Also now that the Akatsuki know that we are targeting them, they'll stay hidden for a while, as we can't attack them at their headquarter in Amegakure (Hidden Rain) yet as if we do, then they go further underground and we won't be able to tract them anymore" answered Anisu.

"Indeed" said Zhuge Liang with a frown, as he knew his former student was correct, as their failure in their mission to eliminate or capture the Akatsuki would know doubt hinder Naruto's plans for the Heavenly Alliance.

"So what are our causalities?" asked Anisu.

"Well not counting the two STORM Shinobi's that you froze in your ice", spoke Zhuge, who eyed his former student, who had the decency to blush in embarrassment. "We lost no-one, as the armour protected most of them from any major harm".

"Well Kisuke-san will be pleased to hear that his modifications on the armour worked" spoke Anisu, with a slight smile.

"Yes, but even with the armour, there were several that suffered some serious injuries, but thankfully they're being treated by the medic's", said Zhuge Liang.

Anisu just nodded, where he then asked if they would head back to New Kumo, once the wounded were all transported to the airship.

Zhuge Liang said they would, upon which Anisu nodded again in understanding, where he then said he would go free them men he froze with his ice, where he then jumped back down into the cave.

When Anisu, left Zhuge Liang stared out into the horizon, for a few minutes, after which he just sighed.

"With the Fourth Shinobi World War now at an end, and the Akatsuki back on the move, things will start to change even more and at a much faster pace" thought Zhuge Liang. After which he then looked up at the Storm clouds above, that were formed when Anisu unleashed Hyourinmaru, as he did he could not help but find them fitting. Since to Zhuge Liang, they signified the storm of change that Naruto had brought about the Elemental Continent in the past few weeks, when he won the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, and this storm of change would only grow more in a few months' time.

Yet for some unknown reason Zhuge Liang had a strange feeling, almost like a premonition that there was an ever greater storm coming up from the horizon, and that it would bring an even greater level of change and upheaval. One that no-one, not even Naruto or himself (Zhuge Liang) could've predicted, and their world would never be the same again, whether it would be for good or bad.

But despite this feeling, Zhuge Liang could not help be chuckle silently to himself, as he could not help but find it amusing that one young man could bring about so much commotion and disruption to the Shinobi world, let alone that he (Zhuge Liang) would live to see such upheaval.

Soon after though Zhuge Liang turned around and walked towards his people to help with the caring of the wounded and getting everything ready for their return journey to New Kumo.