Chapter 30 - I'm tired sensei..

----------------------

{Hiruzen pov}

----------------------

...

"Lady Shima, i beseech you to punish him later, we've got company!" Hiruzen yelled as the charging forms of the two beasts came closer to their position.

"Ha! I'm way ahead of you!" Gamabunta laughed, with a tremendous leap he lifted off into the sky to avoid them and drew his blade. In a surprising move however large roots sprouted from the earth quickly constricting the toad firmly in place.

Gamabunta let out a guttural choke as the the plant matter started to constricted his thick neck. Without skipping a beat the rhino summon leapt forwards and plunged its horn into the construct, pumping all the heat from its form into the structure itself.

Quickly cracks spread from the epicenter of the creatures attack and swiftly made their way throughout the malformation of plants towards the group while heat erupted from every crevice.

'That isn't good!'

'Summoning jutsu!' In mere moments a staff disproportionate to the elder kage emerged from a cloud of smoke that erupted from his outstretched hand. With strikes so fierce he destroyed the roots holding the gaint amphibian in place in a blind burst of speed in time to see the superstructure of wood detonate in close proximity.

Said explosions caused Gamabunta to shield the group in the midst of plummet to the earth below.

Fortunately such a height was nothing to fret over for a gaint creature as the toad cushioned their fall.

Such a forceful landing caused a cloud of debris and dust to shroud the very battlefield. Once the elder toad was able to be seen he was laying on his side baring egregious burns across the left side of his body that had taken the front of the explosion.

"Gamabunta! Are you alright!?" Minato shouted, baring witness to the wounded toads injuries.

"Uuh...I'm alright kid...just need...need a drink or...two..." The amphibian responded incoherently, the signs of the burns taking their tole on the tobacco addict.

Leaping down by her injured kin Shima placed a hand upon his skin to which he was transported back to mount myoboku in a blur. "I've sent him away to the healers, but even I am unsure if he'll truly recover fully..." She let out a shaky breath and looked to the others who landed by her side with looks of anger and worry.

Hiruzen, remaining a fair distance away could only offer a prayer to his long time supplier and looked to his own summon who kept a vigilant eye towards the obscuring cloud around them all.

"Forgive me on bring you here on such short notice my old friend. But I need your assistance..." he tiredly spoke, closing his eyes he prepared his mind for the next wave of attacks.

"Ha! There is no need for excuses, you actually saved me from one of my new wives! Shes been relentless..." Enma shuddered causing hiruzen to almost chuckle at the monkey kings daily struggles.

*Snag!*

"Mm!" Without warning an invisible tail wrapped itself around his waist and pulled him into the cloud away from the others, if not for being Incapable of sensing the boy and his summons, this maneuver would have not have been successful.

Enma quickly flung himself towards the limb, severing it with ease as the cry of the hellish chameleon rang out across the landscape.

Revealing itself, it stood before the 3rd with a heated gaze. Its eyes that looked in all directions were directly licked on him and him alone. Yet...it didn't attack him or unleash any jutsu.

Opening its mouth it stretched out its tongue to which he saw his student standing on the very edge with a look of neutrality.

"Sensei..." Stepping down onto the forest floor he sat down to which he did the same while the monkey king merely looked on with a single eye emerging from his transformed state.

For a few minutes the two remained silent as the sounds of battle continued beyond in the clearing.

"Houzu...you must stop this. While I abhor Minato's actions to have your mind warped, you also aren't innocent in this altercation." Hiruzen sighed rubbing his temples to chase away the headache brewing in his skull from how much paper work this battle would incur.

Yet the child remained silent, the grip on the grass between his white fingers increasing. "And then what? Rip out the eye and give it to that clown? Forget about everything I've went through? No...I will not let those failures take away my memories and free will..." Houzu spat his way as the temperature increased.

In truth hiruzen couldn't guarantee such protection. Despite being the hokage the council could overrule his objections if the matter were to be brought up in a trail.

No...they would mist definitely want his mind to be overwritten. Such an outcome could allow them to mold him into the ideal obedient weapon in their eyes. In danzo's eyes...

He was stuck...

Hiruzen felt completely powerless in the face of such a guaranteed outcome. Had being hokage truly become a meaningless position?

"I can only give my support in your defense, my boy. As would itachi and Hana. Even so, the verdict is out of my reach..." Pulling out a pipe he stuffed in a pinch of tobacco and lit up the end. Taking in a deep puff he looked up to see the child looking back with tired eyes.

"I know.... I'm just...so tired of it all. The village...it's people. If not for you three I would have tried to destroy it by now, you know!" houzu childishly chided, falling onto his back to look up to the sky.

The old veteran stared with wide eyes at hearing his youngest protégé use his mother's few signature phrases. Letting out an amused chuckle he couldn't help but believe a part of kushina was in there deep down.

Soon his chuckle grew to boisterous laughter. He couldn't recall ever laughing as much as he was now!

"Hey! This is serious old man, quit it!" Houzu berated puffing out his cheeks in disaproval. Even then it made the boy look anything but threatening to the elder.

...

---------------------

{Houzu pov}

---------------------

...

What the heck was he laughing for!? This was a serious matter! Was it something he said? Did?

Shuddering for a moment his thought were interrupted by the signal from his beasts to discover that one had fallen. "Huh...that took longer than I expected." Closing his eyes he connected his vision to one of his clones watching the battle to see the rhino had been flattened to the ground by a joined rasengan of Minato and Jiraiya who had both the toad sages on his shoulders.

In turn the sannin had toad like features associated to his signature honorary sage transformation.

'Alright...that was indeed impressive. But let's see them counteract this. Summoning jutsu' With a mere thought a gaint crab emerged from a summoning seal nearby and charged towards the group with a vicious fervor.

Not wasting a single moment it spewd out a viscous thick brine towards its prey. Leaping above the wave of foamy liquid the added chakra to the souls of their feet in order to stand upon its surface.

In moments their footwear began to dissolve force them to be in constant motion to keep it at bay.

Not intending to make it easy the crustacean tossed waves after them to create disorder. In the midst of the fight the dust around them had long since settled, noticing this the crab unleashed a torrent of mist from its maw and spread it through out the enviorment.

Using the obscure tactic to his advantage his clone ran in a blinding burst of speed towards the creature and hopped onto its shell.

Putting his hands together a source of bright light emanated between them for but a short period, only for a repeated series of beams of focused plasma to quickly streak across the terrain.

'Sage art: Plasma barrage'

===============================