Saruto | The Celestial War (Part 2)

Chapter 22: We Meet Again

"Kaushiki Otsutsuki."

"Lady Sarada, we meet again."

As I stared down the man, I smiled, wiping blood off my sword in the crevice of my inner elbow and then sliding it into its holder. I gave a smug face to which he obviously gave offense too.

"Do you plan to strike me down? Huh! Do you?!" he yelled.

Glancing away I looked around at the fallen puppets and zetsu that I had slain. In the corner of my eye I could tell he was about to throw a fit for ignoring him. Hmph. The bastard's a child.

"Sarada Uchiha! Don't you turn your back on me!"

Looking back at him I gave him a look of contempt. Rolling my eyes, I turned back towards the battlefield and searched the crowd of people that occupied it. Where were they? I couldn't think of all of Kaushiki whining.

"Sarada! You cowardice little girl!"

I smirked as I scanned my eyes down into the crater and as I located my father who stood beside Lord Seventh, Shinki, and my son. But something was different. He looked different. Why was Saruto... This interested me more than a conversation with Kaushiki.

"You really are damned annoying," I commented before leaping into the crater and sprinting towards my family.

"Uchiha!" he screamed as I disappeared into the fighting.

As I looped my way through people, I finally found Hima who was meditating. Asami and Kyurei were beside her. Finally reaching them, I stood before them.

"Lady Sarada," they both bowed.

"Asami, Kyurei," I acknowledged and then turned my attention towards Asami.

"Asami, I need you to use your Byakugan to locate Lord Seventh and my father."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Pointing her pointer and middle finger against her nose towards the sky and close to her face, she closed her eyes.

"Byakugan!"

I watched as she scanned the battlefield before her eyes stopped in a direction.

"40 degrees west, m'am!" she instructed with her eyes located onto and intos positions.

"Understood," I acknowledge before leaving them in that direction, " I leave my second-in-command to you."

They both nodded before directing their attention back to the incoming zetsu that were trying to interrupt Hima's Ichibi Sage mode. I watched as they pulled out their kunai to protect Hima before turning away to head in the direction that Asami had told me.

As I continued to sprint and take out any enemy forces that got in my way, I leapt up high over a swarm of them to land safely in our heavily guarded territory. Merely meters away from them, I walked the rest of the way. As I looked over to their position I could see Lord Seventh with his arms crossed with my father, Shinki, and my son by his side.

"Lord Seventh," I acknowledged.

"Ah, Sarada. You've made quite an entrance," Lord Seventh applauded with humor

"Heh, yes," I humored back

I then traced my eyes to my father who stood tall.

"Sarada," he acknowledged.

"Father," I acknowledged back dutifully and then looked to the man that stood beside him.

My son, he was so... different from me when I last saw him. Older. Lord Seventh had told me of his mission to go back in time. How long was he back there? How many years did he spend alone? My eyes then drifted to his face, so mature and clean shaven. He was so handsome. It seemed as though he was even taller than my father. His hair was different as well. But then my heart dropped into my chest as I felt the chakra that he radiated off. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. All I could describe him as was extremely handsome. He had wide blue eyes with thick double eyelids and thick eyebrows. His hair was as black as night and slightly wavy, while cut short. He had tan skin like Boruto, a sharp nose ridge, and strong jawline. He was extremely leanly muscular; in particular he had well-toned biceps and things. He wore a black coat and combat boots. On his hands were fingerless gloves and under his jacket covered a black shirt with a silver collar and buckle, along with close-fitting black pants. He had one belt that stretched across his chest, along with a sword scabbard worn at his waist, held on by straps attached to his belt around his thigh.

"Saruto..." I spoke curiously wanting to hear how much his voice had changed.

"Yes, mother," he said in a strong and powerful voice.

"You look so..." I spoke warmly, looking him up and down like a mother should.

"Old?" Saruto wondered.

I then tilted my head to the side with a smile.

"Like your father," I croaked, blushing.

"My mission...well my mission went longer than expected." Saruto croaked embarrassed.

"I see," I smiled.

Suddenly, Commander Shinki inserted himself apologetically into the conversation, his tall, narrowly built stature matching my son's. He had dark spiky hair, angular features and narrowing dark eyebrows with green eyes that tapered up sharply at the corners. His most notable feature was his red markings on his face, which took up the shape of two 'wo' symbols. These markings resembled that of Lord Kazekage's Sand Gourd, which was common to the Suna Clan. His armor consisted of a Suna flak jacket, dark black-maroon full-body outfits that covered even his neck and throat, complete with black-maroon Suna forehead protector and black calf-length shinobi sandals. He carried a shuriken pouch strapped to his right leg. Around him was his signature large black cloak formed of Iron San, which provided him with the tools needed for his techniques as well as mimicking the style of a fur coat.

"Lady Sarada, have you defeated the enemy forces on the coastline?" he persisted in a cold tone.

"Yes, my force swiftly were able to defeat and capture prisoners for questioning with minimal casualties," I confirmed to him.

"Understood. What have you learned?" Shinki questioned eagerly.

"My personal Intelligence subdivision has learned that Kaushiki Otsutsuki has four generals imbued with Kaushiki's white chakra. All of which have extreme experience on the battlefield," I notified with immense seriousness.

"Hmmm, I see," Lord Seventh spoke out while stuck in his own thoughts, "Intelligence had reported five generals?"

"My proxy commander, Himawari Uzumaki-Norimaki, and I were able to kill the fifth in our battle in the Land of Waves."

"Understood," Lord Seventh smirked at Sasuke.

"Himawari is in meditation for Ichibi Sage Mode," I added looking towards the battlefield, "It's about to get ugly."

"We need a little bit of that right now," Saruto was quick to add with a serious gaze.

There was a long silence as we all analyzed the battlefield. While our divisions were holding out due to the addition of my division, I felt as though it wouldn't last based on the multiplying and mimicking techniques that the zetsu had developed. Stepping in front of us to look out on the battlefield, Supreme Leader Lord Seventh turned to face us as we waited for his orders.

"Have your division support Commander Shinki's division on the center," he said looking onto me, "Commanders Yurui and Sekki's division support the right and Commander Kagura and Captain Araya's divisions the left," Lord Seventh spoke in full confidence.

"Yes, sir," I nodded before turning to my Lieutenants that stood on stand by. Relaying the information, I sent them off into the battlefield to spread the word. Commander Shinki did the same.

"Wait, Naruto," my father was quick to notify.

"What?" Lord Seventh questioned with curiosity, "Am I missing something, Sasuke?"

"I have an addition to your plan from Shikamaru that will strengthen the driving force of the Allied Shinobi Front," my father added, "Call it 'An All Out Frontal Assault'."

Looking at Lord Seventh and their exchange, I saw a smile begin to grow on his face.

"What did you have in mind?" Lord Seventh spoke amused.