37 Chapter 36: The plans of Mice and Men IV

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Hello, I apologize for the lack of recent updates. However, I wanted to inform you that I am currently engrossed in creating a new novel exclusively for my Patreon supporters.

It's an exciting fanfiction centered around DxD, and as a result, my schedule has become quite hectic.

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Naruto turned his attention back to the leader. There were only 13 of them left now. It didn't look like the leader or the ROOT agents were planning on moving anytime soon so that just left 8 more till he got to them.

"You!" The leader growled, the vein on his forehead throbbing violently.

"Oi oi…you might want to calm down, Hiroshi-san. It's not healthy for a man of your age to be under so much stress. You might have a brain aneurism. Shizuka-chan will be sad if anything happened to her Tou-chan." Naruto warned, though there was no sincerity in his voice.

...

The leader wanted to react, he wanted to shout at the annoying brat. But he knew that was exactly what Naruto wanted. He wanted a reaction from him. He wanted to rile him up. Even though he knew it was happening, it was hard to fight its effects. He signalled for the remainder of his men to attack, hoping they could remove the annoying shit stain in front of him.

Naruto saw the eight of them charging him and decided to take them all out at once. He would pick off any stragglers if they managed to survive. He spotted the clear lake beside them and decided to use it to his advantage.

As the men ran towards him, he went through a chain of 23 hand-seals faster than their eyes could follow. A feeling of dread well up in them, which only solidified when they heard the Jutsu being used.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu"

An enormous, violently swirling torrent of water crashed into them. Bones were broken and lungs were filled with water as they struggled in the nature of the Jutsu. Due to his large chakra reserves, Naruto could hold the technique far longer than normal, or was thought possible, without too much of a drain on his reserves.

He held it for a few more seconds before releasing it, allowing the torrent of water to calm. Using his heightened senses, he could make out the faint heartbeats of at least three of them. He was surprised that they had actually managed to survive that.

He put that to rest though as they each received a kunai to the skull. Naruto once again turned his attention to the leader, still sitting on the tree branch.

"And then there were five." Naruto drawled.

The leader started sweating badly at what just happened. He didn't think the kid would be this dangerous. It was just one boy against twenty of them. This should have been easy. He was seriously re-thinking his life decisions at this point.

"You! What kind of monster are you?!" He gritted out. Naruto gave him an indulgent smile in return.

"The best kind."

Those were the final word the man heard as his head was separated from his shoulders. Naruto simply raised an eyebrow as one of the ROOT agents, Naruto decided to refer to him as Dickface #1, wiped the blood of his tanto.

"That wasn't a very nice thing to do. Hiroshi-san and I were having a nice conversation." He scolded, getting absolutely zero reaction out of his opponents who just stared at him with their blank masks. Naruto sighed in annoyance.

"You guys are no fun. It's no wonder Danzo is a senile old goat if he's surrounded by colourful personalities like you three clowns all day."

That got a reaction as the four of them twitched before composing themselves. That was enough to make Naruto smirk. He gently kicked off the tree, silently landing on his feet as he made his way towards the middle of the clearing.

"Let's get this over with. You three are probably going to try and capture me so your precious 'Danzo-sama' can mould me into a perfect weapon that will allow him to take over Konoha and conquer the Elemental Nations…or some crap like that, right?" He drawled out. Their bodies twitched once again, this time a little more violently.

"I was told to stay away from creepy old men who had an unhealthy interest in me…so I'm going to have to pass on that. I doubt that will be enough to stop you though. Unfortunately for you, I've got places to go and people to see. So let's get this show on the road." Naruto said before flinging three kunai at them.

All four of them broke away from each other as they circled him. Each with a tanto in hand. Naruto unsealed Benihime and took a ready stance.

He swiftly brought his sword up to block that slash aimed at his back. Using his strength, he pushed his attacker away while he simultaneously lashed out with a kick at the other one trying to flank him. The other two brought their blade down on him simultaneously, intending to cut him down.

There was no space for him to manoeuvre so he jumped into the air while simultaneously twisting his body at just the right angle as to allow the blades to lightly brush his kimono. He didn't stop there though.

While falling from his position in the air, he planted a single hand onto the ground as a fulcrum and kicked upwards, the soles of his boot catching both attackers in the chin, sending them both flying backwards.

He didn't have time to dwell on that though as he used his arm to push himself off the ground, just as a blade passed the space it was occupying previously. He landed on his feet and deftly swerved before slicing the space to his left, drawing blood from the attacker that tried to sneak up on him.

There was a large cut going down his side. He kicked the man away, making sure to plant his boot on the cut as he did so.

As the man flew back, another came in swinging. Naruto recognised this one as Dickface #1. Naruto used his inhuman reflexes and dodged the swing before delivering a palm thrust to the man's chest, forcing a hacking cough out of him as he lost his balance.

Naruto didn't get time to dwell on that though as he spied a large fireball speeding towards him. He coated his blade in a thin layer of Suiton chakra and sliced the fireball in half, the reaction between the fire and water causing steam to sizzle through the air.

All four got up and regrouped, silently stalking Naruto. He could see this was going nowhere as while they certainly were skilled…their movement were far too robotic and predictable. He could read them from miles away. There was no creativity or improvisation from them.

They moved in predictable attack patterns and used simple tactics. This was further proof in Naruto's mind that Danzo was a fucking moron. If he wanted Konoha to be comprised solely of Shinobi like this…then Iwa and Kumo would kicked the shit out of them.

Konoha was successful in so many wars not because of quantity, but because of quality. The quality and ingenuity of their individual Shinobi was enough to outstrip battalions of Shinobi from enemy villages. If Danzo though that these emotionless robots could replace people like Hatake Sakumo, The Sannin or Namikaze Minato ... then the guy needed to desperately see a therapist.

Naruto decided that this had gone on long enough. He held up a single one-handed seal.

"Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu"

A thick mist filled the clearing, completely concealing Naruto from view. His enhanced sensory abilities allowing him to pierce the mist. He could see the ROOT agents looking around unsurely. He spiked his killing intent, allowing it to flood the clearing, causing the four of them to flinch at the sensation.

He moved silently and swiftly behind his first target before plunging his kunai into his jugular. The man gurgled his own blood before drooping to the ground, dead.

The sound of a body dropping drew the attention of the other three. As they looked toward the sound, Naruto snuck up behind one of them and caught her in a choke hold. She struggled against the hold but Naruto didn't give her much of a chance as he effortlessly snapped her neck.

Once again, the remaining two turned towards where they heard the sound of a body dropping. They tensed themselves, knowing that Naruto could be sneaking up on them at any moment. Apprehension started to slowly set in.

They were being stalked like animals and their stunted emotional growth left them unsure as to how to feel about that.

A minute passed and still nothing happened. Fear was starting to set in as that was the only thing that made sense to the two right now. No other emotion could describe what they were feeling from this monster.

Without warning, a wind blade bisected one of them right down the middle, causing both halves of his body to hit the ground. The wind blade also blew away the mist, allowing the final member to see Naruto standing a few metres in front of him. He jumped back on instinct at the close proximity of his enemy.

He brandished his tanto, intent on at least going down with a fight.

Naruto held up a single one-handed seal once again. The man wasn't going to allow him to activate the Kirigakure no Jutsu again and made to charge forward.

That didn't go according to plan though as he found himself rooted to the spot, unable to move a single muscle in his body. He focused his gaze on Naruto, who was in front of him, as he was simply unable to look elsewhere.

"Paralysis Seal." Naruto explained with a placid smile. "You made a grave mistake, Mr ROOT ANBU. You allowed an Uzumaki to touch you. I would have thought that Danzo would have taught you better." Naruto said, the same infuriating smile on his face.

Even though he wasn't supposed to have any emotions…the man was really starting to hate this kid. He thought back to when he allowed the blonde to touch him…he remembered when he hit him with a palm thrust to his chest. He didn't think much of it and just shook off the attack.

He didn't even feel the seal being placed on him.

Naruto came forward and placed more Paralysis Seals on the man's body, just in case. He reached up and took off the man's mask, revealing an ordinary nondescript face. Brown hair, brown eyes. No distinguishing features.

Once again, even though he wasn't meant to feel emotions, the blonde before him seemed to have the ability to evoke the most primal emotions within him. Which was why he felt nothing but pure terror at the chilling smirk on the normally placid face of his enemy as he forced his mouth open and pulled his tongue forward.

"Now, let's take a peek under the hood."

All that could be heard in the silence of the clearing…were the agonising screams of a man wishing for death.

...

As the furious battle between the Hokage and Orochimaru waged on, the aged leader knew that he was losing. It was slowly becoming a battle of attrition and his tired old body was starting to give up on him.

He knew he had to do something. He had just the solution. He was hoping he didn't have to use it but it looked like he had no choice in the matter. If it meant erasing his mistake, he would gladly pay the price.

As she stood there, taking in deep breaths and listening to Orochimaru taunt him, the Hokage started going through hand-seals.

"Fūinjutsu: Shiki Fuujin"

The ghastly apparition of the Shinigami appeared behind Hiruzen, before sinking its arm into him…allowing it to pass through his body and impale the panicking Orochimaru who could now see the Shinigami since his arm was buried in his abdomen.

"You insufferable old monkey! Why won't you just die?!" Orochimaru raged as he tried to use whatever remaining strength he could muster to impale the Sandaime with the Kusanagi.

He couldn't manage it though as he had to focus every ounce of his chakra and his concentration to keep the Shinigami at bay. He was struggling though. The pain he was experiencing was unimaginable.

He had to do his best to hold out though, as he could see the Sandaime's strength fading. He couldn't keep this up much longer.

"It looks like I don't have the power to drag out all of your soul. However, your ambition ends here! I will hand down your punishment for drowning yourself in Jutsu! I will take away all the Jutsu you have!" The Sandaime shouted as he used whatever strength he had to pull out a small portion of Orochimaru's soul before the Shinigami cut it off with his blade.

"Fūin"

Hiruzen completed the technique, sealing that portion of Orochimaru's soul within himself, forever robbing him of his ability to use his arms.

Orochimaru looked on in horror as his arms turned grey and he lost all feeling in them. He saw the same thing happening to the Sandaime who had passed out from exhaustion. His own mortality never felt so near as the implications of what his former sensei had done to him had set in. He needed to get out of here fast.

He signalled for his bodyguards who dropped the barrier and whisked him away, just before the Konoho-nin could intercept them.

The Konoha Shinobi surveyed the destruction on the roof before kneeling next to the Sandaime, fearing the worst.

He tentatively put his finger to his leader's neck. He felt around for a while before his head shot up.

"He has a pulse! It's faint but it's there! Get him to the hospital!" The man ordered as the rest of them burst into action.

And so, the Suna-Oto invasion came to a screeching halt. With their leader abandoning them, the enemy forces had no choice but to surrender.

There was a lot of casualties and a lot of damage done. But in the end, the great tree of Konoha stood strong against the fierce wind.

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