The third Hokage was not known as the God of Shinobi, or the Professor for no reason. He knew almost all of the jutsu that exist in the shinobi world, and had no problem emulating them, as long as the jutsu was not a kekkei genkai. If he had been an Uchiha, he wouldn’t need his sharingan much. One look at the barrier told him what he needed to do to pass through it, and how to restore it back in place, as if he had not just disrupted it. He stealthily formed four clones, instructing each to form a series of handsigns, and sneak behind Orochimaru’s four underlings. As the clones pressed their fingers on the underlings’ temples, the barrier disappeared, allowing him to slip into the battle field where his ANBU captain was stupidly fighting a losing battle. Once he slipped inside, his clones tapped the underlings’ temples none too gently, and the barrier was erected again at once. His clones dematerialized once they had served their purposes.
With Hiruzen joining the fight, Hikaru had the time to compose herself, and drew as much chakra as she could from the kyuubi sealed within her. Her chakra level flared up exponentially, but her stamina stayed low. She had been exhausted from the fight against Orochimaru and the two kages. She needed to end the fight fast, and the fastest way was to kill Orochimaru. If he died, the Edo Tensei would be terminated, effectively ridding the two kages. But it was a very difficult task. Orochimaru had set his plan in such a way that the two kages would always shield him from harm. Both Hiruzen and she had great difficulties in breaking the defence to get to Orochimaru. Even their combined efforts did not bear much fruits. Not to mention that Orochimaru himself was capable of fighting back to defend himself. Hikaru racked her brain on how to end the fight. She couldn’t ask Kakashi to remove the barrier and let all the shinobis available swarm on Orochimaru and the kages. Chances are, most of these shinobis would die in vain.
Hikaru’s mind was no longer in turmoil, as she had hardened her resolve to kill the man who once had been her mentor. Awe and respect had been replaced by disgust and repulsion. But even so, she still found it extremely difficult to formulate a plan to defeat and kill Orochimaru.
Desperation was growing in both Hikaru and Hiruzen. They couldn’t risk in sneaking in more elite shonobis into the barrier. Orochimaru’s underlings would probably abandon the barrier in its entirety, letting the two resurrected kages roam free, damaging every nook and cranny of the village they had built. Both Hikaru and Hiruzen were getting extremely exhausted quickly, both in body and mind.
Another attack went futile. They were finally able to rid both kages at the same time, but Orochimaru was ready to counter their attacks. By the time they were going in for another attack, the damages done to the kages had been undone. Their edo tensei bodies assembled back together after they had been ripped apart, as if the bodies had not been subjected to any forms of harm.
Hiruzen was particularly feeling hopeless and helpless. Had he been ten years younger, he would have been able to conclude the fight to his favour, and the fact that he had Hikaru fighting alongside him would mean that he would be able to conclude the fight rather quickly, such that he could fight in other battle fields, protecting his precious shinobis. As his fuse was getting shorter and shorter from despair, he began to form a series of hand-seals.
Hikaru was panting hard, her breathing raged and she did not know how much longer she could hold out. As she glanced at the senior shinobi, her face blanched. There was no way she was going to let yet another love one die right in front of her own eyes. Especially not with that jutsu, the jutsu she hated more passionately than any other, be it edo tensei or other sick, disgusting forbidden jutsu. Despite her exhausted state, she leaped towards the older man and clasped his hands tightly between hers, stopping him from completing the hand-signs which would activate a jutsu which was as forbidden and as morally wrong as the edo tensei.
“Don’t. Don’t do this, jii. Please don’t” Hikaru begged, her eyes looking at him with sorrow and anguish.
The older man’s heart clenched painfully when she begged him with those sapphire blue eyes. He was torn. The jutsu should wrap up the fight, enabling him to redeem for the mistake he made years ago, repentance for his sin. However, on the other hand, he had promised himself not to let that pair of sapphire blue orbs to reflect any more pain. It hurt him to know that she was hurting nearly as much, or even as much as the time she found out what her adoptive father had planned on doing, or when she found out that her little brother had been assigned the monumental task which would affect him psychologically. If he carried on with the jutsu, his little Hikaru would lose another paternal figure in exactly the same way she did before. He was not going to make her relieve the miserable feelings she had.
He pulled her away from the incoming attack that was aimed at the both of them. Hikaru let go of his hands immediately, coming to stand by his side facing the opponents.
“My, my, Karu-chan. Haven’t I taught you not to turn your back when facing off with an enemy?” Orochimaru chuckled darkly, his lips curving into that disgusting smirk of his.
The third Hokage placed his hand on Hikaru’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly in an attempt to calm Hikaru down. It however did only little to achieve the desired effect. Hikaru’s gaze remained full of hatred as it bored into Orochimaru’s skull. Her body was stiff, and her lips pursed into a thin line.
“Do you have any plans?” the third asked carefully to distract Hikaru from her rage, preventing her from doing any silly fury-blinded actions. Before Hikaru could have responded, the first and second struck. Mokuton combined with doton attack surged towards them. Hikaru was quick enough to avoid the attack, but the same cannot be said for the third. A particular rock piece hit him hard in the stomach, knocking him out to the ground. Tons of cuts and bruises were also found on him due to the attack.
“Jii!” Hikaru screamed in mortification. She had to think fast. She needed to end this fight to get a medic to take a look at the third. As Hikaru whirled her head back to face the opponent, her eyes lit up. She finally saw it. An opening. The two Hokages had always been there to cover for Orochimaru. But they were never close enough, it’s always Orochimaru with a kage, or the two kages together, never the three together. But now, she saw the three of them standing close together, almost in a huddle. Perfect. This particular attack required massive amount of chakra, such that she had to be very careful when using it, and be sure that the attack will not be futile. She quickly gathered her chakra together, and summoned some of the fox’s at the same time. “Amaterasu!” she screamed as she released said jutsu.
Black flame engulfed her opponents. She watched as the edo tensei bodies disintegrate, revealing the two bodies which lives had been robbed off from. The corpses in turn dissolved into ashes, leaving two kunais which eroded into goo of molten metal. As Hikaru diverted her attention back to Orochimaru, she narrowed her eyes and her jaw want tense. Apparently, he was quick enough to avoid the fire from engulfing him completely, but not fast enough to avoid the fire at all. She could see the panic in his eyes as he inspected the damages done to his body. Black flames were slowly engulfing both of his arms, gradually spreading to burn more and more of his flesh.
Hikaru didn’t waste any more time. She drew her katana from its sheath, ready to cut Orochimaru into pieces. But her body and mind did not seem to have a mutual understanding. Her legs gave up and her knees buckled, causing her to fall on her knees. She slammed the tip of her katana onto the ground for support, to prevent her from falling flat on the ground. She tried her best to summon any remaining strength to enable her to crawl over to him, to plunge her sword straight through his heart. It was a futile effort. She could not even get her fingers to twitch, they were frozen in place, as she gripped her katana.
A sudden burst of emotions rolled into her being all at once. She could not place her finger on all of it, and she did not know the reasons behind some of the emotions she was able to name. She knew why anger was the most prominent, and with it, helplessness rolled. She felt really pathetic that she had no way to remedy the crisis. And then she felt the betrayal. The man she held so much respect for betrayed her, and had planned on using her at his disposal for his own damned sake. The betrayal was extremely bitter, coupled with the fact that even her own body was not siding with her will. Something she associated with anguish filled her afterwards. She also felt humiliated of how naïve she had been all these time.
As she was sorting out her emotions, her eyes began to drift close. She was exhausted in all aspects, physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically. She couldn’t even feel her own chakra any longer. She had no energy left. Right at the moment, all she wanted was to close her eyes to will the nightmare in front of her to go away, she wanted to believe that once she reopened her eyes, everything would be okay once again. She would be a happy little girl living in a fantasy world, where everyone she loves are still alive, and her shishou never negelect, disappoint or betray her.
Seeing that his arms were caught in Amaterasu, he growled in anger and sneered at Hikaru in contempt. How dare she take away the one thing that was important to him? Without his hands, he wouldn’t be able to conduct his experiments or perform a jutsu. How dare she? She is just a pet, his plaything! She should not be able to do this to him! As anger burnt within him, he chugged out his kusanagi from his throat. Using his tongue to hold on to his katana’s hilt, he cut both of his arms to prevent the fire from spreading.
He hissed at the pain of amputating his own hands. But fury beat any other things he felt. He narrowed his eyes at his former student. It was such a waste. He knew that she could never be his vessel, but he had always envisioned her to be his best soldier, one who would always obeyed him without any question. But now, she couldn’t be that either. He aimed his kusanagi at her heart. He really likes her, but she is of no use to him now, so even though it’s hard, she has to go.
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I am so so so sorry I took so long to update :( I had writer's block and kinda get lazy, since this story had dragged on for so long. But.. I'm back! (for now at least :p) I'll try to make up for my tardiness. Kakashi has really rubbed that bad trait of his on me! :p
comment and vote please :3