Ch23- War II

Blades crashed, as a figure best described as a guardian knight blocked Ito's attack.

It was the puppet that Ito had asked Sasori to make as repayment for helping him. Even Sasori had been shocked at the quality of the eventual result. It incorporated the knowledge of multiple hidden villages and clans from all over the world.

It was a puppet that looked very lifelike and could even pass as Kurai's twin because of their great resemblance, with only some things like hair color and clothing being different.

(A bit like this, just similar features like MC like purple eyes, though they aren't as beautiful as the real ones.)

Ultimately, it had become a masterpiece, only rivaled by the most fabulous puppets in history.

Getting the materials however, was easier said than done.

Climbing the highest mountains, stealing from the strongest clans, and traveling for months just for a single piece of the puppet. Ito had done it all.

Although he had hoped to personally see the puppet used by Kurai, his enemies had figured out his identity too soon and he was forced to appear before her for the last time in his short time earlier than expected.

While it shocked her teammates to know that she too was a puppet master, Kankuro was even more mesmerized by the quality of the puppet, which even rivaled Sasori's.

"Let's see how strong you and Sumie have become, sister!"

Once again, her puppet appeared to block the incoming Kunai, which Ito had thrown at her against his will.

While Kurai was very reluctant to attack him, they controlled Ito and as such, she wasn't spared from his reckless attacks.

With her high speed, she was able to dodge most of the incoming attacks, be it from Kunai, Jutsu, or puppets. Those that she couldn't dodge were easily tanked with her specialized earth Jutsu.

While she had previously been missing good attack options, her puppet was built with attack in mind, causing it to close the gap in her missing attack power.

'I didn't expect him to be this strong, he was more talented than me. Coupled with him being an Edo Tensei this will be troublesome.' thought Kurai as she moved Sumie to charge straight at Ito while she cast her signature Jutsu.

"[Earth style combination Jutsu: Absolute defense]"

Although it was called a single Jutsu, it was multiple defense Jutsu stacked on top of each other.

[Earth Style: Stone skin]

[Earth Style: Great Earth wall]

[Earth Style: Earth Armor]

[Wind Style: Vaacum]

[etc...]

To be honest, at this point her combination Jutsu could already be considered OP since only a few of the shinobi that were alive could break through it.

Well, currently there were quite a few 'alive' that could, Ito being one of them.

*crumble*

A chakra blade had inserted itself into Kurai's tight before she could dodge properly. Luckily her body's natural reaction to the pain made her dodge the second blade that had aimed straight at her head.

Naturally, she hadn't gotten nothing out of this trade as Sumie had impaled Ito's stomach with her sword. Unfortunately, he was immortal as his body quickly reformed itself.

"You have to try a bit better, don't get hurt next time." lectured Ito, who was without a doubt a prodigy rivaling Minato.

As her defense crumbled, Kurai had to fall back to dodging once again as his attacks were able to pierce through her defense, making the fight harder as her usual combat style was useless.

Having noticed that this fight couldn't go on like this, Kurai decided on a pincer attack. While Sumie attacked from the right, Kurai attacked from the left.

As Ito noticed the change in the atmosphere, he tilted his head backward, narrowly dodging the incoming kick. Unfortunately, he was unable to counterattack and was forced to jump back as Sumie had already arrived, threatening to cut him into pieces with her sword.

Kurai quickly recovered from the missed kick and concentrated her chakra on her hand, where she let it spin.

"[Rasenshuriken]"

Although she knew hundreds of different Jutsu, she decided to use the one that Naruto had made by himself since there was no way that Ito had ever seen it.

While it was true that he was surprised by the sudden use of an unknown Jutsu, he calmly blocked it with an earth wall.

Unfortunately, he had underestimated the attack, which even damaged Naruto's arm when cast. As such the Rasenshuriken quickly took down not only the earth wall but also his right arm.

Surprised he looked up in shock and was however immediately blinded by a Fireball Jutsu that Sumie had thrown into his face.

With his right arm and eyesight lost, Ito was now at a distinctive disadvantage. For some reason, he didn't regenerate much either. He still did, but very slowly.

With a small smile, Ito slowly took out a scroll and with a small puff, white smoke escaped into the surroundings as a 2nd him appeared.

It was another puppet, like Sumie whose specialty was attacking, the male puppet, Yugo's, specialty was defense.

"Now, let's have a fun 2v2."

For others it might have been a funny sight, seeing two identical pairs of shinobi battling against each other but to the participants, the battle was anything but fun.

Blades clashed, Jutsu's were dodged and Kunai were blocked. However, despite Kurai's years of experience, she still fell short concerning the use of her puppet, which brought them to a stalemate as Ito had only one arm remaining.

As Kurai dodged the incoming earth spike, she felt multiple fire bullets raining from the sky. Using an earth wall, she brought herself enough time to doge as she threw a few Kunai at Ito, who easily blocked them with some of his own while adding a few more to attack her in return.

One of them embedded itself into Kurai's shoulder, who had to scream up in pain. It had hit a nerve and the pain caused a small lapse in movement from Sumei, causing her to be hit as well.

Gritting the katana in her hand, Kurai threw caution in the wind as she started charging toward Ito while preparing multiple Jutsu.

Naturally, with such a stupid attack she didn't get far as her feet sunk into the ground with earth spikes forming to pierce her limbs.

Blood flew everywhere as Ito's eyes constricted out of fear for his sister. While he did wish to fight and test her, he had no control over his movement and was scared to have killed her-

However just at the moment when he looked back to look at her condition her body turned into a large rock.

At that moment he realized, he fucked up as Sumei shoved her sword into his chest while Kurai had chopped off both of his feet.

Just as they thought it was over, his limbs suddenly started regenerating, even his right arm which had been gone for a long time now. However before they could prepare another attack, Ito's movement suddenly stopped as he looked over at Kurai.

"Kurai or Nozomi or whatever you are called now, my dearest sister. I'm glad you are doing good and I hope I won't see you too soon in the pure land. Originally I wanted to give you the Yugo puppet to protect you but I was missing an important ingredient which I only got because I asked the guy in the swirly mask for it after becoming an Edo Tensei. Because of this, I gave you Sumei so that I can at least help you get out of situations where you aren't good enough by yourself.

Since my time is over, please let Yugo and Sumei protect you. This is their purpose and my will. Live for yourself and don't be controlled by anyone ever again."

Only a second after he finished his speech, Ito's body disintegrated as the corpse of a cloud-nin appeared in the ashes.

Her fight was over and her brother was dead once again, waiting for her in the afterlife.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the time to relax.

While she had battled Ito, Kabuto had summoned the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist, which were each the strongest out of all the generations.

While Gai went to take care of the explosion release user, Kakashi went after Zabuza.

Thanks to their previous experience, Kakashi was quickly able to seal Zabuza but not before Haku threw himself before Kakashi's Chidori once again to save Zabuza.

.

.

.

It was chaos. The third division, together with Kurai, was fighting against the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist.

However suddenly as night began to fall, all Edo Tensei's were called back.

.

.

.

While they were resting, they received multiple reports of Zetsu impersonating allied shinobi, causing Kurai's rest to be disturbed.

It was morning when the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist attacked once again. Since Kurai had been temporarily moved to Kakashi's team to battle them, she immediately sprang into action, saving a few shinobi that were about to be killed by them.

While Kakashi easily took care of the overconfident Jinin Akebino, the user of the Kabutowari, Kurai was taking care of Gari since he was attacking their allies all the time, not even thinking about holding back.

After they had finished off their respective opponents, Kakashi went after Kushimaru Kuriarare and Jinpachi Munashi wielders of the Nuibari and Shibuki and was later assisted by Might Gai. Meanwhile, Kurai had met up with Maki to fight against Fuguki Suikazan, whom she easily took care of after Pakura had lent her assistance.

"Sensei! You're alive! How? What?"

"Hey Maki, let's talk about this after the war, alright? I don't think we have time for this right now."

"Yes, sensei!"

Kushimaru Kuriarare

Jinpachi Munashi

Fuguki Suikazan

***

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Yo, Author here. Since I'm only writing from the view of Nozomi I'll let you catch up on what happens everywhere else. Be aware that the Novel continues below.

-Danzo the salamander 'kills' himself after fighting Mifune and letting them seal him (uses his poison sack to paralyze himself which gets him sealed).

-except Mangetsu Hozoki all of the seven ninja swordsmen get defeated (originally he and Fuguki survive).

-Naruto joins the battle and fights Tsunade and the Raikage together with B

-The three Kage get defeated by Gaara, Onoki, and Naruto, and Mu's half escapes.

-The sound four get defeated by those that fought them originally (Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Neji)

-Shino defeats one of the guards of Danzo, his childhood friend.

-B fights against the former Jinchuuriku of the eight tails

-Kankuro vs. Granny Chiro

- Obito and the dead Jinchuuriki attack

-Madara is summoned

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"Kurai, new orders. You will support the fourth company in their fight with the three remaining Kage. This way, we will have a 3v3 of Kage-level shinobi."

The third division had almost cleaned up the battlefield. With Kurai's help, only one dangerous enemy, Mangetsu Hozoki, remained. Since her presence on that battlefield was not needed, Shikaku decided to send her to support Gaara and Onoki.

They had previously pulled back half of the fourth battle division and it was as such prone to danger.

"Big sis! What are you doing here?"

"The HQ told me to support the fourth division, though it seems like I am too late, seeing as you already defeated all of them. Let me just get new orders. and we'll speak when the war is over."

The headquarters were thankful that the three Kage were dealt with so easily but decided to let her remain with the fourth division for a bit so that Gaara, Onoki, and Naruto.

"Lord Tsuchikage, please stay back and rest. I will take care of everything.

While Naruto was confused about why she would go on her knees while speaking with the short old man, he decided to ask her later since she already made it clear not to ask her right now.

"There is a new presence!"

As they all looked up to where the sensor shinobi pointed, they were surprised to see Mu again as they had already sealed him.

"Damn, how could I forget? Lord Mu can clone himself..., no. Rather split himself in two as his power is also split.

"Onoki, I'm disappointed that you were unable to notice. And that new shinobi next to you... is she part of what I think she is?"

"Yes, she is part of the program that you initiated, one of the most rewarding to be exact."

"Lord Mu." As Kurai bowed to the previous Tsuchikage, Naruto and the sensor-nin from before just looked behind Mu.

"That's not it! There is someone else!"

It didn't take long for that person to appear, which shocked Onoki immensely. "How is he here, wasn't he reported on the other side of the battlefield?!? Madara Uchiha!"

Hearing this name, everyone immediately had their guard up. They had to fight against the rival of the God of shinobi, which none of the current Kage were able to rival. A legend that children would hear in either fairytales or nightmares.

As Madara attacked, Kurai and the fourth division's shinobi tried holding him back but to no avail.

The normal shinobi were killed almost instantly while Madara was able to hit a clean blow on Kurai, letting her fly hundreds of meters away before she came crashing into a stone pillar.

However, this was not all as Madara was easily able to absorb Naruto's Rasenshuriken, before retaliating by dropping a huge Meteor from the sky.

Only the combined power of Onoki and Gaara was able to finally stop it when a second one appeared on top of the previous one.

"[Earth style: Pillars of Hell]"

As the second Meteor hit the first one, four huge pillars rose from the ground, temporarily blocking them and giving the two Kage the time to breathe.

However, they unfortunately didn't last long, even with Kurai using all her chakra to hold them in place. However, at that moment, Gaara and Onoki had recovered enough to put up a defense.

.

.

.

Destruction and death.

The cause, Madara Uchiha. Hundreds of shinobi died with this simple attack, leaving the few survivors that had made it out of the attack radius. Unfortunately, most that had barely made it out were still injured and unable to fight after being hit by the shockwave the crash had caused.

Onoki and Gaara were exhausted after fighting against multiple strong opponents one after another. Kurai however had been heavily injured after defending the Tsuchikage with her body as a shield.

While they tried to recover, Madara, with the help of the implanted Hashirama cells, used the wood style to clean up all of the surviving shinobi.

"I won't let you do that!"

"[Multi shadow clone Jutsu]

[Giant Rasengan]"

"[Giant Rasengan, barrage line]"

Before Madara could attack again, both the current Hokage and Raikage appeared to battle Madara Uchiha, even the Mizukage appeared shortly after.

"I'll heal the three of you, Raikage, Mizukage I need you to buy me some time."

Kurai could feel her internal injuries healing, while her external ones began to close.

While Kurai was not strong enough to hold a candle against any of the Kage, she was still strong enough to at least support them.

Naruto however was as headstrong as ever and refused to not fight Madara, only until all the five Kage together persuaded him did he waver.

"Naruto, don't worry. They are all strong enough to take care of themselves, even without me or you supporting them. Now, go! You are needed elsewhere."

As his clone disappeared, only the five Kage and Kurai were remaining to fight against Madara.

While the Raikage and Tsuchikage combined their attacks, Tsunade healed the Mizukage. Noticing how Madara used her grandfather's Jutsu, Tsunade was livid as she got Gaara to transport them into the air.

As pollen were released and the wood caught on fire, all of them had become unconscious. Only Onoki was remaining as he used his particle style to get rid of the burning wood, causing all of them to wake up.

"That's the first Hokage's face! That's why he can use wood style!"

While Madara was insulting Tsunade for being weak compared to Hashirama, coupled with her being a woman, the Kage prepared to begin the fight once again. They had already realized that they couldn't win, but they refused to give up as that would mean condemning their allies on other battlefields to the death.

***

The five Kage were defeated.

Madara Uchiha was too strong for them to defeat. Kurai was currently unconscious, she had tried her best to protect the Kage from damage and had thus been injured quite a lot, but in the end, her presence had done almost nothing.

The next thing she could remember was being healed by Tsunade, who had her lower body reattached by Orochimaru after it got crushed.

After everyone was healed up, they made their way toward the battlefield.

Suddenly they received a voice transmission from Hashirama

"Been a while, Minato. Nice to see you."

"Yo! I wish we could talk, but unfortunately, we have the battle to win."

"Big sis, you know my dad?"

"Yeah, he asked me to take care of you. Now concentrate on the enemy."

As Kurai reappeared on the battlefield and saw Obito, she quickly contacted someone with Shikaku's help.

"Come to the main battlefield, we need you here immediately."

***

I do not know why, but while I was healing our allies Nozomi suddenly contacted me and told me to come to her immediately. I don't know what reason there is, but I hurried and arrived in only a few minutes.

It was Kakashi. He held a kunai in his hand, ready to stab a person to death when suddenly, Minato-sensei appeared.

As she listened she couldn't believe her ears. "...Obito, just now..."

Her mind went blank as she ran faster than she ever did towards her team that had reassembled even though most of them were thought to be dead and one dead.

As Kakashi gave up killing him, he suddenly sensed someone running at them at high speed.

Both he and Minato looked to their right as an unknown but familiar shinobi suddenly appeared.

"Don't say that, sensei. Neither of our deaths was your fault. And you Obito! Stay still and don't move so that I can heal you! And Kakashi! Stop being so depressed, neither of our 'deaths' was your fault!"

"Wait a minute. RIN?! How are you alive, what?"

"SHUT UP OR I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF! Do you even know how worried I was? Over 20 years in a coma, from which I only woke up a year ago, just to find out that sensei is dead and you, Kakashi, have been nothing but an empty and depressed husk of yourself. And I couldn't even go to see you..."

As her tears began to fall, neither of them was able to say anything. They were shocked, and happy but also in disbelief.

"Rin, how are you alive then? I was sure to have seen you as a corpse with Kakashi laying on the ground beside you."

"Do you remember that woman that tried to assassinate you called Namaki? She said her real name was Nozomi and she was your friend. She was able to save me since the tail beasts chakra was still keeping me alive, while a friend of hers, a medical-nin, patched me up."

While they had an emotional moment, especially Obito as he now knew that Rin was alive, Black Zetsu suddenly took control of his body to use Rinne-rebirth to fully resurrect Madara.

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

I'll kinda be skipping most of the war since I don't want to just write exactly what happens in the anime. Most of you who will read this, know the most important parts anyway.

This also has something to do with Nozomi being almost useless in the war at that stage. I mean she is weaker than the Kage and Naruto/Sasuke. And even the 5 Kage are unable do do much in that time against Madara as the ten-tail Jinchuuriki or Kaguya or anything for that matter.

Gosh, how I hate writing this. It was fun until I had the Ito Ark finished, now it's just a pain.