~~~
Naruto dashed towards the many ROOT Anbu that were guarding the tunnel that led to the room that Danzo was in.
Sai followed from behind, unleashing a wild pack of tigers that were made of pure ink. Jumping in the air, Naruto saw all of them go towards him in a wild manner.
You all won't be enough. Naruto thought, the ink tigers making a rampage as he landed on top of a ROOT member. Moving away, Naruto got on the red metal railing, balancing himself perfectly.
Bending his back backwards, a kunai that had an explosive tag attached right on it passed right by him. Seeing this with his eyes, Naruto caught the handle, jumping away as he redirected the kunai towards the many ROOT members.
They are too clustered due to the lack of space. Naruto thought, seeing an explosion as the kunai had pierced through the clothing that one of the members had.
"Is this all you got?" Naruto taunted, attaching his feet on the rusty metal pipes. The downpour of blood stained the area due to the abundance of people that got caught in the explosion.
"You haven't seen anything," Basilisk said, appearing behind him alongside many other members of ROOT. They were ready to thrust the blades in their hands through his heart.
Naruto suddenly disappeared from their sights, making them wide their eyes in realization.
Genjutsu.
In a split second, the heads of many others had disappeared. "Such a waste," Naruto appeared back into his original spot, but the only difference was that he was covered in blood.
The blood from the people that he had killed.
Basilisk jumped away, thinking about his own safety instead of the safety of the minions that served Danzo.
"Shinsekai"
Looking a few seconds into the future, Naruto saw over 20 of the ROOT members jumping from behind. Now ignoring Basilisk, Naruto turned around, seeing the ROOT members.
A bolt of electricity appeared surrounding his cursed eyes. It was the same technique that he had used against Sasori when they both had fought.
"Juden"
He had calmed down the output of this technique and took a break instead of overusing it. There were side effects of this technique that Naruto did not have any knowledge of.
After all, he has been taking it easy so he wouldn't fry his brain. But he did suspect that if he did overuse it this technique, he would appear quite delirious.
Having the possibility of having the ability to harvest an infinite amount of information would without a doubt be quite intoxicating.
Shifting his body to the side, Naruto dodged a glistening tanto that would've pierced his brain. As the tanto passed him, Naruto saw the image of ROOT member.
Bending his body backwards, he was now horizontal in the air. The ROOT member's fist had passed Naruto as he did this, soon hitting his comrades face.
Taking down another 4 ROOT Anbu members, even more came after him. Naruto looked to the side, seeing Sai take on Leviathan.
Was Sai always this powerful? Naruto thought, seeing him being able to take on one of the strongest ninja in all of ROOT.
She was a ruthless individual that had an efficient style. And she seemed to be struggling against Sai. Don't get him wrong, Sai was powerful, but he wasn't on the level of power like Leviathan.
Suddenly, he had heard a voice call out towards him.
"Captain. . ." Naruto snapped his head towards the voice, seeing his 3 other subordinate that he had the opportunity to teach during his years in ROOT.
"Kana, Youta, Ainu," Naruto said, skipping the formalities as he struck another ROOT member's heart with his blade. He looked at the 3 with cold, red eyes that had sparkles of electricity.
(A/N: I forgot to mention, Kana is a girl, Youta is a boy, Ainu is a girl name.)
"We will kill you to protect Danzo-sama," Youta stated, getting ready into position. But it seems as though Ainu had no intentions of letting Youta be a team leader, and instead just rushed in towards Naruto.
Danzo's methods of creating soldiers were good, but they were far from being perfect. Ainu has always had a hot temperament like right now. She was only slightly older than Naruto, and she had dark brown hair.
Everyone that was raised through Danzo's methods were good and powerful shinobi, but they were weak to human nature.
"This is your end," stated Naruto, appearing in front of Ainu. Reeling his hand back, he violently grabbed her neck, squeezing it tightly, making her squirm in despair. The other two saw this, and tried rushing in.
But they were TOO LATE.
"I'm sorry," whispered Naruto to the point where only Ainu could hear those words. Ruthlessly, Naruto use his blade and decapitated her head, launching the head in the air, and ending her life in seconds.
Walking forwards, Naruto caught the threads of her hair that was attached on her decapitated head. He saw the looks on their faces.
Emotions of anger, sadness, rage filled Kana and Youta. Naruto stayed silent, seeing how imperfect they were by Danzo's standards. Dropping the end on the ground, Naruto rushed forward.
Their movement got sloppy. Naruto thought, ducking down slightly to dodge a kick. Summoning many clones, they moved towards the hordes of members that were splitting off between Naruto and Sai.
Now right at the back, Naruto placed his hand on the platform, and kicking Kana with his foot. He then felt a sharp pain alluded him.
Being knocked away, he managed to regain his balance. Looking up, he saw the person who had knocked him away a meter or two.
"Youta," Naruto whispered, seeing him rush in towards him. Blocking the strike by bringing up his forearms, Naruto used his other arm and reeled it back before his fist dug into Youta's abdomen.
Making Youta fly away, Naruto picked up his glistening and shiny blade back from the ground. Naruto skidded back a few feet to dodge a swinging kick that just narrowly missed Naruto's face.
"I suggest you two to stand away, or you will share the same death as Ainu." A strong gust of wind enveloped the entire being of his blade. Running forwards, Naruto passed by the many bodies that were lying on the ground.
With a quick and vital swing, Naruto sent a steam of wind towards anyone within his sight. Blowing everyone back, Naruto began his assault.
I took it easy on them. Naruto thought to himself, seeing how soft he had become. Even though they weren't the friendliest with each other, Naruto was still their former captain.
And to think I said I wouldn't hesitate to kill them. Naruto could almost laugh at himself as he sliced through members to member, the blood covering his mask and clothes.
The original 400+ members had dwindled down to a mere 250 in minutes.
Their patterns in teamwork - it's getting better. Mused Naruto. When it was at its largest, their teamwork was poor and garbage. Now it changed.
They were being more thorough and actually started to communicate through code. Naruto knew that they were prepared for this.
How long have they known? Naruto jumped away. There was absolutely no way that they could've transitioned to this type of behavior if they hadn't known of this beforehand.
Ignoring these thoughts for now, Naruto started channeling his lightning chakra into the blade that he has used for years. Tendrils of blue lightning appeared, covering the blade.
Naruto struck the platform, directing the lightning that was now surging through the ground to the designated members of ROOT.
"Stand back," Leviathan said, appearing on the railings as Basilisk appeared right next to her. Naruto narrowed his eyes at them.
"It seems to ran away from Sai. Are you scared?" Naruto tried digging under her skin. They were supposed to be the perfect soldiers of ROOT - emotionless, and strong.
But they weren't emotionless, they put that up as a front, trying to lock up their hidden, struggling emotions in a cage.
"There are bigger fish to catch," Basilisk said, answering the question for Leviathan. Once the platform was cleared with no electrical residue, they jumped down in front of him.
"I'm surprised," said Naruto. "That you thought you could beat me." Naruto arched his arm, pulling the blade out from the wooden platform to block a strike from Basilisk, who rushed in towards him.
I'll be more careful now. Naruto thought, not wanting expend more chakra. He needed to save as much chakra as he needed so he could fight Danzo without any errors.
Relentlessly creating clones would drain him.
"How arrogant of you," Leviathan told him, her voice echoing through his brain. Naruto jumped up slightly in the air, delivering an air kick to Leviathan's abdomen, letting him create some space.
I need to disrupt their teamwork. Naruto thought to himself, stepping to the side so he would avoid a blow to his mask and his face underneath.
He was without a doubt stronger than both of them. But the only problem was their impeccable teamwork that seemed to be quite an obstacle to him. They had been able to hone their teamwork together due to their status'.
And the disruption that I need is. . . here! Naruto turned around, seeing Youta leap towards him. He widened his eyes as he saw Naruto knee him in the stomach. Basilisk and Leviathan saw this and rushed in.
Naruto grabbed Youta's arm, soon throwing him towards the two commanders at a violent speed. While Leviathan had managed to dodge the flying body of Youta, Basilisk did not.
There. Naruto leaped in the air, kicking Leviathan's arm that was outstretched to punch him. A sharp pain now entering Leviathan's arm. Naruto swung his blade, a large gash now running around her chest.
"You did well," stated Naruto. "But you're done." Naruto fluidly aimed his blade down, piercing her forearm in a violent nature. He then twisted the blade, her flesh being forever destroyed.
To ensure her incapacitation, Naruto ruthlessly, but cleanly sliced both her arms so she would be unable to mold the needed chakra to cast her jutsus.
"AGHH!" Screams of terror echoed all throughout the headquarters. Dropping her on the ground, Basilisk threw Youta out of his way and panickingly went to Leviathan.
Ignoring them, Naruto summoned even more clones than before.
"Clear a pathway for me." His clones nodded, rushing in to take down even more of the ROOT Anbu members that inhabited the space around them.
Running forward, his clones were able to take down a vast majority of the ROOT members so he would have enough leeway to keep moving forward.
There were a few members that attempted very trivial attacks, but they failed as soon as they decided to even face him head on. Blood painting the battlefield in the familiar, crimson red, Naruto saw the entrance that Danzo resided in.
With the members too busy to take him down, Naruto was free to enter without any problems. A whole corridor that led to many rooms. But the main room was at the very end of the corridor, awaiting for him to make his presence known.
In a menacing walk, his footsteps echoed as cries and screams of war was left behind him. His azure eyes sparkling with lightning, Naruto kicked the door open, his entire being enveloped in pure darkness.
Immediately, he was bombarded with a surprise attack from Danzo. A series of kunai were thrown at him. Naruto used his brilliance in the art of Kenjutsu to block all of the kunai.
"Uchiha Naruto," Danzo said, making Naruto to turn his head towards his voice. He was at the side, his silhouette was the only thing visible to him.
"You've known all this time." Naruto could practically imagine a slight smirk on his face.
"Yes, I've known for a few years. And all this time, I've been finding the perfect way to defeat you if you were to defect from ROOT. And here we are now." Naruto stepped to the side, dodging another kunai that went his way.
"Do you think you can kill me?" Naruto asked, now on edge as he let himself in the darkness of the room cover him as well.
"The arrogance of youth never ceases to end. That's why I see unfit for you to live. You are too knowledgeable of this world for me to just let live. This is your end, Naruto!" He yelled, suddenly weaving through multiple hand seals.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
Unable to dodge to the area of effect being too large, Naruto decided to just withstand the attack, ripping parts of his uniform, blood forming due to it piercing his skin.
They were fighting in pure darkness, guessing which direction your opponent was the only way around it.
"This is far too dark, don't you think?" Danzo began running away, a secret passage that led upwards revealed itself. Listening to the direction the footsteps were heading, Naruto followed them.
As he made it to the secret passage, Danzo was running up the stairway, sending a vast number of shuriken that would pierce him.
The room that we were in was perfectly in his advantage. Simply spamming the same technique could potentially hinder me to the point of losing. What's his game? Naruto thought, jumping to the side so he would be sticking on the wall.
Creating a clone, it launched the real him forward. His blade in hand, a strong sense of wind covered the blade as he neared Danzo. He looked behind, seeing Naruto suddenly appear right in front of him and sticking the blade through his heart.
"Do you. . . think this is over?" Danzo asked, disappearing and soon reappearing at the top of the stairway. Naruto widened his eyes at the technique that he had just used.
Izanagi? Naruto questioned himself, following Danzo to the top of the stairway, revealing the surface of the Earth. Now standing in front of Danzo a few meters away, he assessed the surroundings.
We're very near the entrance of the base. We shouldn't be too far away from the village. He looked back to Danzo, who was carefully observing Naruto.
Seeing Danzo weave hand seals, Naruto used his Sharingan to copy it at the same, constant rate of speed.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
A large amount of wind chakra began to compress, forming as they expelled it from inside their mouths. Their jutsu clashing, the large dash of wind tore through the environment around them.
"Your ways of creating shinobi is revered as 'perfect' by some, but it's nothing but a trash method that is full of flaws." Danzo remained calm at the mention of his methods.
"Yet, here I am, having an army of shinobi within reach. Is it truly trash when I've made it this far with the same type of method?" Naruto smirked under his mask. He dashed towards Danzo, slightly leaning forward to dodge a punch from Danzo.
But the opposing opponent had managed to block Naruto's own punch by lifting his leg up in the air.
"Who knows, but without a doubt, all one person needs to do is fan the already existing flame. A single word, tale, rumour can create a wildfire that devours all." Naruto leaned back, dodging a kick that narrowly missed his mask.
"And I'll be there to see it - when everything crumbles so I can set anew." Danzo narrowed his eyes, skidding backwards as Naruto managed to find an opening to punch him away.
"You think playing god will fix this world?" Naruto's expression remained unstill behind his mask. His bloody blade right in his hand.
"Play god? Acting like one isn't enough. Being one is only way." Naruto stopped talking, now going through a number of hand seals in seconds.
"Fire Release: Blast Fire!"
A very large fireball escaped from Naruto's mouth. It may have looked like a regular fireball jutsu, but it soon split into their own individual fireballs that were flaming hot.
When Danzo tried dodging, he surprised that even though the fireballs were very miniature, they created a large blast of fire that knocked him away.
The explosion soon clearing, Naruto saw Danzo getting up from being knocked down to a tree. Some parts of his clothing were charred.
"I see, so that's what you were hiding," commented Naruto, seeing the cloth that covered his right arm slowly unravel the many Sharingans that was implanted.
Of course he knew that.
"The work from collecting the eyes of many dead Uchihas. A secret that most do not know about." Naruto appeared, dashing through the burnt grass.
"I'll get revenge for them by killing you," he said in a calm tone, ruthlessly decapitating his head in a single motion that he couldn't follow in time.
But, like before, Danzo once again disappeared and reappearing from behind.
~~~
Over with the clones of Naruto, they were still fighting off the ROOT Anbu members. The last few hundred were getting quite difficult due to them using the dead bodies of their comrades as meatshields to avoid taking damage.
Basilisk had managed to flee the scene with Leviathan in his hands. Another betrayal forming through Naruto's actions? Or were these actions of self-indulgence? His need to save Leviathan from dying?
"Sai, I need you to create something that could carry the dead bodies away so they can't use them as defense mechanisms." There was no response from Sai.
"Sai?" The clone backed away, trying to scout for the presence of Sai.
"He's not here?" He questions himself, soon killing another ROOT Anbu member that attempted to use the bodies of the fallen to their advantage.
"Where is he?"
~~~
"What's that?" Asuma asked, gesturing Kakashi, Kurenai, and Guy to look at the direction that he was pointing at. There was an explosion of flames that roared.
"Could that be Naruto?" Kurenai questioned as they started to make a move towards it. Was this dangerous? Yes. Was this needed? Absolutely.
"Most definitely. There is no way this is a mere coincidence," Kakashi answered, jumping from building to building.
"What will we do once we see him? Will we let those FLAMES OF YOUTH DIE OUT?" Guy made an emphasis on the last few words.
"We shouldn't kill him. We just need to knock him out and restrain him so he could be answered." They nodded at Asuma's words as they saw another explosion of flames from afar.
~~~
I only need him to use Izanagi a few more times. Naruto thought, knowing that Danzo would use try and use the Kotoamatsukami as a last resort.
Luckily, he already has a way to prevent being put under it.
"The difference between us is too large. Give up." Naruto had many wounds and cuts that was given by Danzo. But Danzo looked even worse than him.
"What nonsense. Giving up is not the nature of a leader." Naruto saw Danzo leap forward, aiming his fist that was reinforced with chakra at him. With little to no hesitation, Naruto formed an 'X' with his arms, blocking the strike and receiving very little residual damage.
"Nature of a leader? What good of a leader for them to simply. . . die." Naruto kneed him in the stomach, pain covering over his body as he was sent a few feet back.
Regaining his balance, Danzo began weaving through hand seals.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
Naruto then felt the same intense pressure of wind that he had previously felt when they were in that pitch-black room. But the difference was the output of the technique.
With more chakra being poured, Naruto was forced to scrunch his face behind the mask due to the intensity of the wind that shredded another part of his uniform and cloak.
A few cracks soon appeared, running across his face as Danzo used this time as a way to get a free hit off of him. Standing his ground, Naruto rolled to the side, barely dodging another chakra-inforced punch that dented the ground.
Moving quickly, Naruto placed both of his hands on the ground, using it like a pillar as he sweeped Danzo's feet, making him stumble down to the ground.
Just before ending his life once again and making him use another eye for the Izanagi technique, he suddenly froze, paralyzed a victorious smirk spread across Danzo's face.
"Self-Cursing Seal Technique!"
Markings in pure black suddenly appeared and ran across his body, paralyzing him. At hindsight, it looked like Naruto was enveloped by a Curse Mark like one that Orochimaru had given to Satsuki, but this was completely different.
A technique that paralyzes their opponent.
"You didn't notice did you? I placed this seal when I got that hit off on you with that wind jutsu." Naruto couldn't do anything, frozen in place, struggling to move even a muscle.
"Now! Do it!" Yelled Danzo. He and person from behind stabbed with a blade and kunai. He had been cornered.
"Mission accomplished, Danzo-sama." Naruto widened his eyes at that voice. One that was familiar to him.
"Good work, Sai." Naruto's eyes saw Sai from the corner of his eyes as blood escaped from his mouth. Stumbling on the ground, the seal still activated as the blade and kunai was pulled out from his body.
It was Naruto's blade - the one that he dropped when the sealing was placed on him.
"Your trust came a bit you in the back." A devilish smirk appeared on Danzo's face as Naruto realized what had happened.
He used Kotoamatsukami on Sai! Naruto thought in realization. It all made sense to him. The reason why Danzo knew that he was an Uchiha. Why Leviathan was having trouble with him. Why the whole ROOT Anbu base was ready for his attack.
It all started with Sai!
Danzo had used the Kotoamatsukami to pull him back to his side to become his pawn once more. Why he did it so randomly? He just needed someone to keep and monitor Naruto.
His vision blurry, Naruto fell unconscious as his mask crumbled and broke in pieces.
How did everything go so wrong? Sai, Danzo. They've been in cahoots longer than I had ever realized. Naruto was suddenly in a place in pitch darkness.
"Kurama?" Naruto questioned, assuming that he was in the usual place once again. He saw no cage that contained Kurama. This wasn't the same place.
"You trusted Sai - that's why you failed." Naruto turned around, soon widened his eyes as he saw a figure from a distance.
It was himself.
The one when he was still being trained by Madara.
~~~
Done. Like what I said last chapter, I will be splitting this and the next chapter into two parts. If anyone read Tokyo Ghoul:re, then next chapter will be heavily inspired by it. Idk, I just thought this was a good way to get Naruto back on track for the future. There has been a sense of wavering emotions due to his lack of actions.
Like what he said in this chapter, he wants to see the world crumble so he could set anew, yet he hasn't done anything remotely anything close to creating a new world with the already crumbling one that he stands on.
But anyway, with this chapter ending, I have accumulated over 3900+ words this chapter alone. The end of the beginning is here. Next chapter soon.
Thanks for reading Grace.
But until next time.
CYA!