32 Chapter 30 - Naruto and Tails

My feet were already trying to move as I took in the scene before me. Something in me pleaded to be let out. It screamed alongside the fire that burned in my veins, giving more and more strength to my call.

The feeling was addictive, drawing more of myself in as it fed off my emotions. Part of me knew that it was hurting me as it grew, but I could hardly care at that moment. I felt faint. Like everything was so far away, and Hinata's struggling figure was suddenly the only thing I could see.

Tunnel vision was perhaps something I was plagued with. It was a slippery slope that pervaded my every movement. I knew it to be something that wouldn't help in these circumstances, but that folly paled in comparison to my overeagerness to fall to anger.

And fall I did.

It consumed me in orange ribbons that spilled out of my pores, twirling around my figure like enticing serpents. They seeked blood. They desired revenge. Most importantly, they wanted me to fight. Violent and insatiable.

The sounds of battle was falling from my ears, becoming distant echoes that told me that something was there. I was almost too far gone to actually realize that I needed to be careful, but I held onto whatever small bit of semblance I had to keep a presence of mind to not become too focused on my goal.

It was a slow process, far too slow for my senses. Everything was slower to me, but not as slow as it was whenever my knife activated. However, people were moving slower, and yet I felt that my acclimation to my newfound strength was taking eons.

Malevolent Chakra continued to spill around me, snapping at anything that got too close. I knew there were people nearby. They always were whenever I got this angry. However, my rage addled mind also spoke of two presences that were helping me.

Their strength was greater than my own, easily trumping those who tried to attack me as I fought my own internal battle. One of them stood next to me, talking, whispering, trying to drag me from the back of my anger.

I realized something was seriously wrong as I found myself breathing hard, each gulp of air sending a shudder through my body. Chakra was thrumming through my body in such an excess that I felt it trying to clump up around my skin. Skin and blood were being ripped up in the process of it trying to stay as close to me as possible.

The orange ribbons of Chakra were slowly becoming a shell that was making a very good approximation of a second skin. Bits of red were flowing into the shell, swirling into the space between my body and the orange barrier like a bloody smear.

Open sores on my skin were a stinging pain, adding to my confusion as I grew more lucid of my surroundings. Acid was being poured into my body, filling each inch of my being so that I could only get a few staggering breaths.

The shroud of anger and orange was trying to come back. Trying to sink me back into the corner of hatred so that it could be released. A hand descended to help me. Its reassurance sending a pleasant warmth that originated from my shoulder.

My eyes looked up to find a grimacing Itsuki smiling down at me. His face was strained, sweat coming down in rivulets as he tried to hide his pain. The haze of my thoughts was coming undone as my hand felt wet.

I looked down just long enough to find it inserted into the older man's thigh. Like a sudden bolt of lightning all the rage fell back into a corner, and a tremble shook me like a hurricane. A tumble in my steps pulled me backwards as the man who I had come to know as a mentor fell to one knee.

Words failed me. Malevolent Chakra streamed into my mouth, taking every attempt to apologize from me. Instead, Itsuki just gave me another smile. Then, he spoke the words that broke my spell of panic and anger.

"Don't worry about it, kid." His hands were already moving to wrap a few paces of medical bandages over the new hole in his leg. "It's just a flesh wound."

I tried to speak again, finding the Chakra crawling in the back of my throat vibrating enough to form words. Dark, scratchy, and echoing words. "Itsuki… sorry. I'm..."

"This is why we didn't want to tell you, kid." He said, forcing a smile. I knew how much pain just a smidge of the Chakra wracked him with, and the fact that I had no idea how long my hand was in his thigh only increased my worry.

"Itsuki, we need to get Naruto out of here." Kakashi added, not taking his eyes off of the fact that enemies were suddenly very wary of my appearance.

I was only half paying attention to him as the echoing collisions above us clued me in on the fact that Jiraiya's toad still had to deal with the giant human. Considering all the facts presented to me, I found myself slightly favoring the enemy despite the dire situation. Though, the distraction was a welcome tone to me.

It gave me more time to think. My head was pounding with thoughts of vengeance and violence, but staring at Itsuki's injury was enough to continually shock me back to the present. It was enough, I decided. Enough to finally start planning on how I would save Hinata before Jiraiya's crazy plan came to fruition.

Itsuki sighed beside me. "I know that look, kid."

"Naruto, no." Kakashi chimed in, apparently thinking the same as the missing-nin. "We'd jeopardize their lives as well as the Hokage's even if we tried to intervene. Our best bet is to wait for Jiraiya to act, and hope that his attack doesn't kill them."

I glared at him, feeling like I was holding back an ocean of anger. "No… attack him… plan."

"Hold on, I got this, Kakashi." Itsuki said, throwing a smirk to the silver-haired Shinobi. "I don't mean to brag, but I can translate broken, kid speak."

Kakashi and I stared at the oddly prideful man, wondering just what he was proud of. Or, more importantly, how my condition translated to anywhere near whatever 'broken, kid speak' was.

"No time…" I grinded out as more and more Chakra seemed to burst from me like a leaking pipe. "I'll… illusion… cover to… attack. Save… while… distracted."

Itsuki hummed, nodding as he idly blocked a few thrown kunai. "So, the kid's gonna use some type of Genjutsu to give us enough cover, and then attack mister half tree megalomaniac to distract him. Then, we'll come in and save the two kiddos in the window of opportunity."

Kakashi paused before looking over to me. Halfheartedly I nodded, wondering just what Itsuki's skills were. This one definitely seemed like the most uselessly situational one. Kakashi just accepted it nonetheless.

"And you have an illusion to fool the Sharingan?" He asked, not even stopping to persuade us otherwise.

Itsuki gasped. "Wow! Is the grumpy Kakashi actually planning to help?"

I glared at him along with Kakashi as the sound of one of the giants above us shook the surroundings once more. We didn't need to turn to look to know that one of them landed a clean blow. The giant human was suddenly knocked to his knees in an avalanche of force by a sudden rush from a humongous plate.

"Right, right, no time." Itsuki said, frowning. "But I don't think I can move as fast as you guys with my leg. Kakashi, can you-"

"Yes, I can." Kakashi cut him off, turning to me. "I don't agree with acting like this, but I'll follow your lead."

I frowned a little, wondering just what his deal was. One second he seemed to be completely against us going in, and the next he was all gungho about fighting. There had to be something there. However, I wasn't going to spend my precious seconds figuring out why.

All I needed to focus on was the vast reserves of Chakra that tore through my body.

I barely felt my own Chakra, weaving in between the oceans of malevolent orange, but I forced myself through the process of control. The way I moved Chakra was more like throwing large stones in a moving stream rather than carefully building a pathway for it to travel. It was brutish, incomplete, and absolutely wasteful.

However, as it began to take shape, all I had to do was force as much Chakra through the technique as I possibly could. And considering the fact that my Chakra was trying to form a single tail, I had plenty to give. The fox's energy was overpowering my already overpowered jutsu to form the image in my head.

An invisible shell of energy broke free from my body, traveling across the entire battlefield to encompass the broken treeline and the scattered clouds above. Water vapor trailed from my lips, pressing against the growing orange Chakra shell that formed around my body. More and more blood seemed to stream from the tears in my skin to compete with the orange for dominance.

Shivers of pain rattled my bones. A deep seeded rage tried to pour forth, but I refused to turn to my knife to help. It would have broken my jutsu in an instant, and I needed everything I could scrounge together to form the innards of the massive Chakra shell that I had just created.

If the Henge no Jutsu(Transformation jutsu) that I had used in the prisons were already huge with the bits of Kyūbi Chakra that I added into it, then this one, backed by what seemed like endless Chakra, was something entirely different. The sheer distance it covered and the amount of Chakra that filled it were something that I was sure no other Shinobi could fathom.

Several members of Uchiha and Hyūga's who still had their eyes all seemed to stop to stare at their surroundings as if it had suddenly become a pit of lava. The eyeless Hyūgas, on the other hand, paused like their brethren, but their hesitation quickly become moot as the fighting all returned in an instant. Though, everyone moved as if someone would appear behind them all of a sudden.

Kakashi's eyes both widened as he turned to me, but his shock was quickly snuffed out by calm. "This works."

I grinned, feeling my elongated incisors peek through my lips. For some reason, the Chakra that surrounded me would let me speak any longer, and it was only growing thicker by the second. If it wasn't for the fact that my mind was slowly descending into another haze, I would have wanted to study just what exactly this new form was.

It reminded me of whenever I activated my knife. Though, there were some differences. Mainly being the fact that my mind was more my own, and seemed to be prone to extreme emotions rather than bouts of listlessness. In a way, it was easier to navigate than when I suddenly felt like a completely different person.

And because of this, I could use this form more effectively. My body was rapidly falling apart with the savage energy that wrapped around me, but that didn't matter too much. I only needed it for a couple moments more.

Strength and malice poured into my legs as I fell into a crouch. The ground cracked before breaking apart as I pushed off it, leaping through the fog of Chakra that I had put over the battlefield.

I felt like my brain was slowly becoming mush. Part of it wanted to turn into a giant monster of rage and hate, another was busy weaving the massive illusion to some degree of reality as I passed through, and the last bit was keeping track of where I was as well as where everyone else was.

My body collided with another midjump. They were naturally heavier than me, but that mattered little when I was effectively wrapped in solid Chakra that felt like acid whenever it came into contact with something. Somewhere in the back of my mind I recognized a scream before I felt my sharpened fingernails push themselves into the man, knocking the two of us to the floor.

Air escaped their lungs as we landed, kicking up a decent cloud. The man below me was already trying to fight back, but I was already pushing him deeper into the earth as I kicked off. His chest gave way long before the ground below us cracked.

Another enemy was my target, and I met him before he even noticed I was upon him. Both my hands slammed into the side of his head as I forcefully swung myself further. There was a snap and a thud that was quickly covered by the noises of the chaotic battle.

I used the momentum to vault to another target.

My rampage continued on its straight path towards Danzō, tearing through swaths of his supporters in the process. His attention was still on Hiruzen, further pressing the man into a metaphorical corner. Whether he had acknowledged my illusion or not, I didn't know. Instead, I focused on the next enemy that brought me closer to him.

Kakashi was behind me somewhere, I knew. The silver-haired teen didn't really have a mode that wasn't serious, so even if I could not hear him, he was definitely following me.

Fights around me broke out and ended in mere seconds. Shinobi were sent flying by explosions or jutsu that ragdolled them through the air like obstacles to my goal. My hands had to push flying corpses out of my way several times as I moved forwards, flipping and catapulting myself to dodge their limp bodies.

Fire was everywhere now. Heat and red tongues scorched everything in their path as Shinobi tried to nail their opponents, but they were only serving to get in my way. Several red flowers washed over my form as I neared closer, letting my orange and red Chakra shell drink in their heat. All I felt was the tickle of warmth that wrapped around me.

Spikes of earth sometimes erupted next to me, bursting forth with such force that I nearly lost my footing. However, they never hit. They were never aimed for me. Hitting the odd enemy Shinobi or blocking another fireball instead; telling me that Itsuki was holding his own well enough to look out for me.

I was almost there. Practically feeling the power of every thrust of the strange black spears that charged at the Hokage, and tasting the breath of the traitor who started this all. He never noticed me.

Until his giant fell.

The human who had been going toe to toe with the massive toad finally fell to his knees behind us. I didn't need to see the blow that done him in, nor did I need to turn to check just one last time. The sounds of a massive body hitting the ground and tremors shaking the earth for the entire battlefield was all I needed to know that Jiraiya and his toad had won. The Shinobi's body collapsed the next second, and the silent announcement that Jiraiya was probably turning this way as of this moment forced me to try to speed up.

However, the defeat of the giant caused Danzō to turn towards it, and we just so happened to be directly in front of it. I met his one visible eye for a second, and I knew that my illusion had somehow failed. The branches around Hinata and Sasuke shivered for a second. His head shook from side to side in a threat that screamed louder than the roar of war around me.

My run slowed to a staggering halt, eyes locked on him. Anger, disgust, and despair settled in my stomach as I heard the giant toad behind me getting ready to throw his payload. I needed to move. Needed to save my friend, but I couldn't.

After throwing away the ideals of mercy for the small chance that I could save Hinata faster, I couldn't move further. Everything was just too far away. I had fail-

My knife fell into my palm. My split was announced in an explosion of white smoke that obscured the sight of everyone. Hiruzen, Kakashi, Danzō, and Jiraiya as well as his toad all suddenly found themselves within a sea of smoke. It wasn't much, but it was enough.

I rematerialized around Danzō's stomach, finding the man surprised at my sudden appearance. His eyes widened at my teleportation, and the older Shinobi was already moving from years of experience and skills.

However, age was his weakness. He was fast, faster than almost every single Shinobi I had ever seen. Though, he wasn't fast enough.

Flashes of rage and despair pooled into my being, flowing like a sudden downpour of acid. My body was failing, and this trick would only work a single time. I wasn't arrogant enough to think that it would against anyone with a smidgen of battle prowess. He was already curling up, protecting all his vitals in milliseconds that it took for me to act.

He had hurt my friend, ruined her village, and caused all this chaos for a reason I didn't particularly care about. And I hurt me more that I couldn't deliver the finishing blow on the bastard, but I was feeling the drawbacks of using that weird Chakra shell, and didn't really have more than a single hit in me.

So, I made that hit count. All of my emotions, all of the Chakra I could control, and all the strength that my small body could permit was put into the single punch that didn't travel as straight as he expected. Instead, I curved downwards, smashing into his thigh.

It felt like my hand had just slammed into a brick wall at terminal velocity. Several of my knuckles broke on impact, and tremors of pain snaked up to my shoulder. Something shifted in my wrist, soft pops echoed in the back of my mind as my hand fell limp. I bit my tongue to hold back a scream, tasting wet copper in my mouth.

However, the damage to him was much worse. I heard something snap several times before the leg gave way to my smaller fist. Things were being pushed aside, twisting in a fashion that didn't feel too comfortable. Sill, I had to give it to the man, Danzō didn't even expel so much as a pained groan as I flopped to his feet.

He stood rather lopsided as he stared down at me, and I could only force myself to my hands and feet in an animalistic crouch to glare back at him. Any energy that I had was spent, used up to power that one blow that pulped his leg to the point where if he even walked correctly, I would be calling hacks.

His mask of neutrality broke into a grimace as he spoke. "Did you think you would have won with just that? All that effort to come up short."

"I don't… know," I said, eyeing the worried looking Hinata and crying Sasuke in his branches. Then I broke into laughter, coughing and spitting as dust got caught in between my gasps. "You really... are one of those stupid... evil villain stereotypes, huh?"

"What?"

Pain filled my everything as I struggled to push myself to my feet. The man was still looking down on me, and I was going to milk it for all that it was worth, coughing all the while. "I mean… you even let... a kid like me get a hit... on you. So what else… are you… other than stupid?"

"I don't think you understand the position you are in, Uzumaki-san." He said, using one of his arms to poke into one of the open wounds on my body. I stifled a hoarse cry of pain, blinking back stars and tears to continue my glare.

Fire was pouring into my body through his hand forcing itself deeper. However, I just grinned, bloody teeth pointing at him. My wounds were healing slowly, the itch of regeneration taking more out of me than the pain. "No… I don't think… you understand."

Danzō laughed. "What? You are smarter and more talented than I previously thought, but you're just a boy. A child way in over his head."

My laugh echoed out with his. "Its always the… same with villains." I liked to think the smile I showed to him was as violent as I wanted it to be. However, the sound of thousands of crying birds were enough of an answer as they silenced my next words to everyone but me. "I'm the distraction."

Kakashi appeared, the smoke that covered the battlefield warping around the teen as if afraid of him. Lightning danced and screamed along the teen's straightened right arm, his Sharingan wide and staring directly at Danzō.

His movements were almost invisible with how fast they were. One second he was still a little distance away from the two of us, and the next Danzō was twisting to get out of the way of Kakashi spearing him through with his hand.

The silver-haired teen missed the man by inches, goring all the way through the wood growing from his right side. Twigs were sent flying when, instead of pulling back, Kakashi swung his arm up to slice off a good chunk of the wood, freeing Hinata and Sasuke who he then quickly tucked into his side.

Wood was already trying to grow back over his free arm as the older Shinobi backpedaled from the sudden assault. He looked about ready to attack us, his body tensing for sudden combat. Our ambush combined with his injuries had reduced his previous confidence to ash.

In a way, it was rather refreshing.

However, what none of us expected was for Hiruzen to come flying out of the smoke, slamming his staff into the side of the man to send him flying. The body ragdolled for a couple seconds in the air, and I heard a sound like air being pushed from a cannon.

Jiraiya, standing on top of that massive two-pronged weapon, then crashed into the body of Danzō as it reached the apex of his ascent. I briefly caught a glance as the traitor's body wrapped around the middle of the prongs, and Jiraiya reaching down to shove the man's head further into the heavy metal weapon before the two flew to the edge of the battlefield. The ground shifted and trembled with the impact, sending what was almost like a hiccup into the world as the wind finally cracked in response to the sheer speed of the weapon.

Hiruzen paused as he looked over me, frowning at the wounds that marred my body. "Thank you, Mina-" He cut himself off, blinking back something as he turned back to where Jiraiya and Danzō had landed. "Thank you, Naruto."

I found myself following the man as he shot over to where they landed, and only collapsed when I finally lost him. For some reason, I felt as if he was thanking me for more than coming to fight. Though, I could hardly pay attention to that when Itachi landed next to all of us.

"Big brother!" Sasuke cried, wriggling free from Kakashi's grip to run into the arms of the teen Uchiha.

I leaned over from my position on the ground to find him, taking notice of a couple of cuts and burns on the teen's body. "I kept… my promise."

Itachi nodded to me, but didn't offer a word. All he did was help me to my feet as he moved us out of the way as a couple black spears that came rushing our previous spot.

A little embarrassment colored my face as I remembered that this was, in fact, still a warzone. I was exhausted, injured, still reeling in both external and internal pain, but as Hinata spared me a smile, I felt rather ready to continue. It won't take long, after all.