Usagi 58
>>>>CHAPTER 58<<<<
>>>>God<<<<
Boom!
A huge explosion engulfed Hidan's body, all the explosive tags that had been wrapped around his body going off all at once.
The cigarette that had triggered the explosion was drenched in blood as it hit the bottom of the large grave, followed quickly by an array of body parts that had once made a person.
"Unreal..." The head of what had once been Hidan had now been decapitated, but unfortunately for Shikamaru, the mouth remained intact.
A chilling laughter escaped Hidan's bloodied lips. "Haha... you actually got me... Lord Jashin will punish you for this!!" He screamed. "You'll surfer!! He'll bring his vengeance down upon you!!"
Shikamaru stared down at the enraged face, his eyebrow raised, "That bullshit doesn't scare me." He said. "You see, you and I have very different beliefs." His expression turned cold as he tied an explosive tag to a kunai. "I believe in the will of fire. Your 'Lord Jashin' is nothing, and you're pathetic. The only one bringing down vengeance is me."
He tossed the kunai.
"I'm your god now."
Boom!
A second explosion shattered the ground, filling the hole that Shikamaru had created and drowning out Hidan's last words.
"Don't you ever forget! Jashinism will spread, and The Lord will not forgive you!! I'll carry out his judgement! I don't need my body to kill you, I'll bite you to death you mother fuck-"
The rocks covered him entirely.
It was over. Finally it was over.
---- ---- ---- ----
Naruto created three shadow clones as he stood across from his powerful, monster like opponent, Kakuzu.
Choji explained how their opponent had 5 hearts, and how two of them were already gone.
Naruto was ready to test out his new jutsu after hearing what had happened already. Even though they had all told him not to attack head on, he did it anyway.
He charged, well his shadow clones did.
"Clones aren't enough to beat me, kid."
Kakuzu easily killed the clones, but little did he know Naruto had gotten info from that one move.
He now knew in order to effectively distract him, he needed at least 3 clones. So he made the appropriate number of clones he needed, and be began.
A screeching noise was heard from the palm of Naruto's hand, two clones on either side pushing chakra to the small chakra ball forming in his palm. It was powerful, the strength of the still forming attack overwhelming.
The jutsu was completed in a short time. Sitting on Naruto's palm was no ordinary rasengan. This rasengan had powerful wind chakra was spiralling around it, its appearance resembling that of a shuriken.
"Wind style," Naruto yelled out, his clones charging. "Rasen Shuriken!"
Choji was going to jump in and help, but Yamato stopped him. "Don't get to close! His jutsu will hit you too!"
So all they could do was stand and watch as the Nine Tails chakra came out, powering his jutsu even further.
'This is the Nine Tails jinchuriki.' Kakuzu thought. 'Such power... I can't get hit with that attack, or it'll be over.'
Kakuzu was distracted, killing the clones that were attacking, giving Naruto the perfect opportunity to hit Kakuzu.
But the strangest thing happened. Just as Naruto's Rasen Shuriken was a centimetre away from Kakuzu's chest, it faded away into nothing.
"Did he hit him?" Ino asked, a hopeful smile on her face.
Yamato paled. "... He missed."
In a fit of panic, Usagi jumped forwards.
Activating her Deva path, she pulled Naruto's body towards her.
The thing is, as soon as she did that, her body started convulsing. She collapsed to the floor, clutching at her chest as her body trembled. Naruto fell to the ground as her jutsu deactivated, pain making her unable to continue using the Deva path.
"Usagi!!" Ino ran towards her, laying her friend down with her back on the ground. "Shit, Usagi!" Pumping chakra into her hands, Ino held them over the redhead's heart.
The thread that Kakuzu had used to wrap around Usagi's heart... she hadn't managed to remove it, it had only snapped off.
Kakuzu still had control over her heart, and he was determined to steal it.
Usagi had a plan, an idea on how to remove this thread, but she had to wait another 54 seconds before she could do that.
"Naruto, your jutsu-" Choji started speaking, but the blonde interrupted.
"Let me do it again!" Naruto said. "Just once more, I'll decide this with my new jutsu!"
"This is an Akatsuki member!" Choji said. "Now that he's seen your attack, he knows what to expect. Let's work together."
Naruto shook his head. "Teamwork is important, I know that... but right now I need to do this. Kakashi-Sensei told me, I'm the only shinobi that can surpass the Fourth Hokage. I need to do this."
Usagi, despite the amount of pain she was in, smiled and gave Naruto a thumbs up.
"Thanks, Usagi." The blonde grinned, glad to have the approval of his teammate.
Yamato sighed. "Alright. But if anything goes wrong we're jumping in."
Naruto jumped back into action.
Usagi's smile disappeared as he ran off. 23 seconds to go... could she make it?
"Usagi..." Ino was freaking out. There was only so much her medical ninjutsu could do. With a continuous pressure squeezing her heart, she couldn't keep Usagi alive much longer. "Usagi, I can't keep you..." She choked on the words. How was she meant to tell her friend she was about to die?
Blood trickled from the corner of Usagi's mouth. She was blinking back tears as she bore the pain of her heartbeat forcefully fading.
Choji and Yamato glanced towards her, concern written all over their faces. "Ino, is she alright?"
A tear fell from Ino's eye. "She... She's..."
Usagi, with what little energy she had left, dragged her finger along the dirt next to her, writing a short message in the ground.
Look away.
Her 23 seconds were up.
Usagi activated her Asura path, turning only the skin in her arms into armour.
She pushed Ino away, and in a split second plunged her arm right through her own chest.
Tears fell from her eyes as her small hand tugged the black thread off her heart.
She removed her hand, slamming the thread alongside her blood on the ground.
Ino's eyes were wide as she stared at Usagi. Medical training had told her she needed to be ready to see things she never thought she would see, but... but nothing could have prepared her for what she just saw.
The hole in Usagi's chest was pouring out blood, all colour leaving her face.
"... Oh Kami..." Ino put a hand over her mouth. "Usagi..."
Then the most amazing thing happened.
Usagi stood up.
Naruto's body, his real one was seconds away from being attacked.
'This one's a little trick Nagato showed me.'
She held out her arm, aiming at the black threads shooting towards Naruto.
Everyone was surprised as something shot from Usagi's palm.
The Asura path didn't just turn the body into armour, it had the ability to turn the body into one giant weapon. A mechanized weapon unlike anyone had ever seen.
A cylinder shot from her palm, hitting the black threads in a matter of seconds, slicing them clean off.
Naruto's real body was safe now, and with this opening he- "Gotcha!!" His hand slammed straight into Kakuzu's chest.
The jutsu had worked.
Usagi sighed in relief, collapsing from exhaustion. Of course as a consequence of Naruto using a wind style jutsu, a large explosion of wind had to toss her body around, increasing the amount of pain she was in.
Well it's not like she was in that much pain anymore. Her body was going numb.
Naruto too was tossed to the ground, watching on as what looked like sparks shone in the gust of wind.
Kakuzu screamed, and a minute later, his life was over.
The sparks faded, as did the wind, and Kakuzu's body plummeted to the ground, landing with a harsh thud.
Naruto had just managed to eliminate all the three hearts he had left in one hit.
"Heheh..." He smiled, his breathing unstable as he lay on the ground. "I did it."
Ino, having regained her composure, ran towards Usagi. "Usagi!" She tapped on her cheek lightly. "Can you hear me?"
The redhead responded, giving a slight nod.
I'm tired.
She wrote in the ground again.
Ino rested her hands over the hole in Usagi's chest. There was so much blood... "You have to stay awake, ok? Stay with me, Usagi."
She tried to stay awake, she really did, but her eyes were drifting shut against her will.
That is until a hand made its way right across her face. "Oi!" It was Naruto. Despite being in a very poor condition himself, he made his way over to his teammate. "Don't you dare die on us!" He yelled. "What's Kakashi-Sensei gonna do without you?! Usagi we need you! Team seven's not complete without you in it!"
Usagi's purple eyes were half closed as she stared at Naruto.
Just looking at him, she understood. Three years ago, Sasuke had challenged her to a battle. She thought it was of jealousy or out of spite. But now she knew exactly what those feelings had been. Sasuke had challenged her because he had admired her to such an extent he was jealous. She knew that now because looking at Naruto, she felt the exact same thing.
How jealous she was of his confidence, on his power, of his determination. Naruto was so strong... and Usagi... she wasn't. She had come so close to death, if her friends weren't with her, she was certain to be dead.
Usagi's mental strength was still letting her down. She had the potential to be one of the strongest shinobi ever known, her strength was already at that level... she just didn't know how to apply that strength. She didn't believe in herself.
And that was her weakness. The one thing Sasuke had truly despised about her. She was so strong, yet so weak.
She and Sasuke were so much alike.
Usagi couldn't die just yet. Not while she had so much left to do.
---- ---- ---- ----
Ino managed to stop most of bleeding, Sakura helping her out as soon as she returned alongside Shikamaru and Sai.
Usagi's condition was shockingly poor, which wasn't surprising seeing as she stabbed herself to save her own life.
What was more surprising was the array of bruises they discovered scattered all over her body.
Usagi was fast asleep when they wanted to ask how she had managed to get such bruises. They couldn't have happened during the battle, not all of them.
They were concerned. Just how had those bruises gotten there? Had someone... beaten her?
They would need to ask her when she awoke.
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AN/ Double chapter this week!
Hope you enjoy the extra 1800 words of Usagi! I was feeling generous this week, I thought it'd be cruel to make you all wait another week for the rest of the battle!
Thanks for reading ^.^
-C