Chapter 32

"Hmmmmm. Good try. I have to commend you for it. Anyone who's never fought a tailed beast before might even be fooled. Your bloodlust is great, but nothing compared to those chakra monsters. If you had truly transformed into the Ichibi no shukaku, then I'd be having a much more difficult time talking or even breathing. My best guess? That technique of yours similar to the Hozuki's clan hydrification technique is letting you bring forth this facsimile" His smug voice was finally cut off as a massive arm of sand descended right at him. He dodged the attack, but that left him wide open for that same arm to shift into a cannon-like appendage that fired dozens of sand bullets.

Onoki dodging them all was expected. Even anticipated if I was being honest. And it placed him in a position where his body floated right above the stadium Konoha used for the chunin exams. When sand rose from that stadium and rushed at him, his dodge let the sand merge with my new body as I whipped my tail at him. He was fast. One thing about his gravity manipulation technique I'd noticed was that it was bullshit. It let the man just flow around attacks with such speed and flexibility that I found it doubtful that I was facing a man who'd been alive in the warring clans era, before hidden villages were even a thing. So willy and mobile he was.

His movements accelerated as more and more sand flew at him in a bevy of attacks. He dove straight down, and as he touched the ground, I could feel an earthquake erupt on the ground beneath me as the rest of the world began to rise. What the fuck? No. Not the rest of the world. The ground beneath me was sinking in relation to the rest of the floor. "Earth Release: Moving Earth Core" Onoki intoned when the ground stopped moving, and as I prepared to make my escape from the poor trap, Onoki and Kurotsuchi suddenly appeared in the air above me.

"Now, Granddaughter" He said as they weaved seals together. It didn't take a genius to predict that whatever was coming for me would be pretty unfortunate if I let it hit.

So, I began to climb. The hole I was in was wide enough to contain my massive form and claws made of sand ripped into the stone by my sides as I began my ascent. Of course, not as used to this body as I should have been, it took me a few seconds to get a good rhythm for the climb. I made good time, but in the end it was all for naught as they finished their seals in unison and began to spit out a whole ass tsunami of lava. The first time it touched me, I felt nothing beyond the strange sensation of losing control of a few grains of my sand. With the amount of the stuff they were flooding with, it wasn't much of a surprise that those few grains began adding up in no time at all. One hand was gone, and then my legs as the lava began pooling at the bottom of the hole and rising.

I tried. I tried my hardest to escape the cavern with only one hand to climb with.

The lava hit my knee first. The left one. I lost control of it, and had an even harder time making my way up. Sure, there was less bulk to lift, but the effect it was having on my balance was enough to force me to slow down even more, letting more and more of the lava get more and more of me.

In the end, it was a matter of pragmatism. I reformed my original body at the head of Shukaku's falling apart form and detached a large platform of sand to float me all the way to the top. When a cube of light captured the first sandy form to escape the hole, Onoki was successful in disintegrating the clone of me I sent to check the waters.

Instead, I tore right through the ground and appeared beneath Kurotsuchi's floating form. The golem her grandfather made to slow me down was barely a delay as dark sister cleaved it in twain and I was face to face with the older girl. Her lava balls were dodged in a split second as my body shifted around itself and I encased her in sand from my inventory. Two hand seals was all I needed to turn the sand prison to an actual sealing barrier as fuinjutsu script spread across it and bound her in the cocoon, with not even enough space for her to breath. She was just sealed shut.

When I turned to Onoki, his eyes had narrowed into slits as his body flushed. Good. I was getting tired of this fight, as well. It was exhilarating, but Onoki was a troublesome opponent, and in a similar vein to him, I could not actually afford to waste so much chakra. The fight between Hiruzen and his sensei was beginning to hit a crescendo, and I needed to make sure I interfered before the old man offed himself with the reaper death seal. The good part was that I doubted he'd be so bold as to use a suicide jutsu with two other kage in the village.

"She can't breathe in there" I told him, watching his eyes narrow even further. "At her weight and age, I give her about thirty minutes with Chakra enhancement. But you see the seal I put there? She can't use any chakra. She's got maybe five minutes at the most before she's dead"

"You will release her."

"Hmm. Will I?" I asked, tilting my head and purposefully adopting an uninterested tone.

"You will" He said as he weaved seals and stone began to pour out of his mouth. It shaped itself in mid air, and when it landed, it was with an explosion of dust as the giant golem took the field. "You will, if you don't want to die screaming" He said, as the golem let loose a heavily telegraphed punch. Well, that goes the first minute.

I placed my feet on Kurotsuchi's cocoon as I dodged out of the way, riding it like a surfboard. Onoki's eyes narrowed even further at that, making my smile widen in turn. The golem moved even faster as its arms lashed out in massive swinging attacks that were a doozy to keep ahead of. Two minutes.

My sand rose to my aid again as a swarm of it crashed into the golem before worming into its seams and eating into the stones that made it up. I stretched out a hand and clenched it as I concentrated on the sand. In canon, Gaara could make a desert with only a grain of sand. With all due respect to him, I was quite a bit stronger than he was. So, was it any surprise that my sand wore the golem down to nothing but sand in a matter of seconds. Three minutes down.

Onoki's attempts to get me with blasts of dust release fell short as my makeshift surfboard carried me well out of harm's way. The longer the fight went on, the more desperate Onoki became to get me. I could see it in the way he chased me for longer before giving up. In the way he crashed through sand tendrils without hesitation as he threw caution to the wayside. Wide dust release attacks were no longer possible as they'd catch Kurotsuchi in their range if they got me, and that was enough to stay his hand. Four minutes.

But even with that off the table, me pissing him off like this had brought something else on the table. Explosion release. His hands sparked as he tossed rocks at me at extreme speed. The first time I'd decided to just dance between them, the explosion had robbed me of my hearing for a few seconds until the sand could heal it. Five minutes.

I could see it as he increased his haste. He knew just as well as I did. The moment of opportunity was coming. I turned right around and flew right at him, riding Kurotsuchi's form. Just short of clashing with each other, when I knew his attention was fully on me, I flipped around and kicked Kurotsuchi's form right at him. His body twitched. He wanted to dodge. I could see it. The man was literally at war with his instincts. His hands twitched, and instead of moving aside, he caught her with a resigned look on his face, struggling to rip the sand off her face. And from there, it was over. The sand rose from her and encased him instead, the seal easily accomplishing its second function. Kurotsuchi's body fell to the ground while I watched the Tsuchikage fight off the seal with the weight of his chakra alone. The sand began to fall off of him, but it was too late.

Dark Sister appeared in my hand again and I floated forwards before plunging the blade right where I knew his heart was. His struggles ceased almost instantly, as the Third Tsuchikage of Iwa, Onoki the Fencesitter, breathed his last.

When I was sure he was dead, I tapped him once with my palm, sealing his body in my inventory, and turned towards Hiruzen's fight. I'd kept an eye on how things developed over there, so I'd noticed when exactly the battle had devolved into a chaotic mess with several of Hiruzen's Anbu and Orochimaru's people swarmed into the fight when the barrier went down.

Of course, interfering in a battle with four kage level ninja was a quick way to die, and they got to experience that first hand as the ground was littered with bodies. Both Konoha anbu, Iwa Shinobi, and randoms with snakeskin belts that marked them as Oto shinobi. But even with all the chaos that had unfolded amongst them, the Kage level combatants remained standing, most looking unfazed.

Hiruzen had a nasty cut on his cheek, and the fact that he hadn't healed it himself told me enough to know that he was feeling the pressure of the fight. Good. I had no interest in helping him if he still believed it possible for him to win on his own. What would the point of keeping him alive be if he didn't realise that I was the only thing that kept him from a certain death.

Sure of my approach, I sailed at the battle on my sand platform while gathering and manipulating chakra in my left hand, my dominant hand. I arrived right in time to interrupt Hashirama executing another wide ranged wood release jutsu. With this one sending multiple sharp branches of wood right at Hiruzen. Flying past the Hokage, I came to a sudden stop right in front of the attack and threw the rasenshuriken I held.

The amalgamation of millions of microscopic blades of wind tore right through the wood release and cleaved the man behind it in half in seconds. I clenched my fist at that, commanding the attack to execute its second stage by expanding a fair margin.

My calculations proved right as I was right at the edge of the jutsu's radius. The expanded ball contained billions of microscopic blades of wind that tore apart everything within it, practically disintegrating everything within.

When it ended, I was faced with nothing but barren earth and dust, Hashirama;s trees being rendered to saw dust. I waited till I saw the telltale signs of edo tensei regeneration as it looked like bandages began to piece themselves back together from thin air.

Raising my hands brought the sand around me under my control as it swirled around Hashirama's still form. I saw Tobirama flash towards me, but Hiruzen was in the way and a hit from his staff sent the second Hokage flying backwards before he weaved seals into a wind release jutsu that instantly nullified the lightning release Orochimaru sent at me. Good.

Once Hashirama was mostly reformed, the sand pounced, grabbing hold of him and holding him still as more and more sand pounced. When it was complete, I'd built a giant pyramid made of sand to hold down the first Hokage's reanimated body. Ox-Ram-Snake, I weaved the seals to complete the seal from the jutsu and fuinjutsu script formed along the sand. "Sand Mausoleum Jutsu Complete" I said with a smile as the seal completed and locked, sealing away the first Hokage.

When I could return my full attention to the fight, I found Orochimaru looking right at me with a snarl of deep hatred on his face. Well, messing up his plans twice would have that effect. "You good, bro?" I asked casually, walking forwards towards him as Hiruzen and Tobirama's fight went further and further away from us. I guess Hiruzen was going to leave me to finish my unfinished business with this particular bastard.

"I will enjoy ripping your skin from your flesh, boy" He snarled before darting at me so quickly it was almost beyond my ability to react. Luckily, my body was made of sand and responded to my desires just as quickly as my sand could, which was instantly.

Dark sister reached up and clashed against his blade instantly. I noticed it was the same Sword of Kusanagi I'd taken off his body last time, and narrowed my eyes at him.

"Like my new sword?" he asked, smirk on his face, and I responded with a smirk of my own as my arm swelled with increased muscle and strength before I overpowered him and slashed across his chest, letting the mud from the clone splatter across my face before I used the motion to turn around, weaving seals with my right hand as fire bloomed in my stomach and a giant dragon of flames bore down on the mud dragon jutsu he sent at me and blew up.

"Ready to fight me this time?" He asked as his voice carried over, sounding like it was coming from every direction. Suddenly, mist covered the battle field. "Have you ever faced the silent killing technique, boy?" He asked, and I just smiled before taking in a deep breath and blowing out a veritable hurricane of winds that tore through the mist. Yeah, fuck that.

Of course, the effort turned out to be a waste as the corridor of free air I created was instantly taken over by mist once again, and then I felt a sword pass through my back, and right through where my heart would have been. If I was made of flesh and blood, that is. Turning my head 180 degrees, I turned to face his shocked mug as I let loose several bullets of wind that he had to backpedal to dodge. A lesser swordsman would have left their sword behind in their shock, but Orochimaru was of a much different breed as his hand remained attached to it all the while as he disappeared into the mist again.

"A variant of the hydrification jutsu, I see. But with sand instead of water. Fascinating. Just how fascinating. But the question then becomes, how? How can your body lose form when that body contains the Ichibi no Shukaku? Does the tailed beast become entrapped in one of the billion grains of sand that you transform into? No, that makes no sense. Hmmm. I see, then. I see the answer now. Thank you, Gaara of the Desert, you've solved a riddle that's bothered me for a while now. I'll honour you with a quick death as your jutsu has a single obvious weakness." His voice echoes through the mist, and I could hear the smug in his tone.

Having already seen what Onoki could do to me, I had no interest in falling victim to the ninjutsu master of the Sannin. Copying what I'd seen from Hyuga Neji, I moved into a spin, sending out chakra from all my tenketsu, and forming a giant rotating shield of wind. When the mist electrified, my winds tore it apart and robbed it of its charge almost instantly.

I finally stopped spinning, and was unsurprised to note that most of the mist had been blown away. Orochimaru was still nowhere to be found, but this time I could see my surroundings clearly. I turned to Hiruzen's fight and found that the Second Hokage had the old man trapped in an actual river from his water release as the Third tried his best to fend it off with his earth release. Transforming into sand, I flowed around the entire thing as I reformed mere inches from the man. When his kunai came for my head, it did nothing but pass through sand as I tapped him on the chest, placing a seal in the seconds of contact we had and then pushed him off as the exploding seal activated and tore apart pieces of his chest.

Orochimaru's neck rushed at me as it stretched but Hiruzen's staff was right in the way as the old man understood my request to switch opponents almost instantly. Just like I did with his brother, I once again forced my chakra to go through those three stages invented by their successor's successor before I added my own flare, forcing the chakra to compress itself as it began to achieve combustion in the centre.

The regular rasengan was in three stages: rotation, power, and compression. Rasenshuriken had a fourth stage which I termed spin which was adding the blades of wind at the end and making the entire thing with wind natured chakra instead of the pure vanilla variant. Fire release; Rasengan was different. The product of months of work and theorising, it was a multilayered jutsu formed with the power of an S-rank ninjutsu and the control of a medical jutsu. First came the core, the spark, if you will. It was a dense core of supercharged fire nation chakra contained in a spinning shell of neutral chakra. Outside that core was a collection of spinning blades of wind sealed off in another core. In truth, the jutsu was more blaze release than pure fire release, and it hit like a motherfucker. Jumping right at the second's reforming body, I planted the jutsu right into his midsection before hightailing it out of that.

Without me to stabilise it, the jutsu instantly began to fail. It was incomplete, but even at that, the failure was a massive explosion that instantly evapourated the ocean he'd created with his jutsu and took out a massive section of the stadium with it. Konoha's repair bill was going to be a thing of legend.

Hiruzen and Orochimaru brawled it out, fighting their way through the stands in a dizzying display of tai and ninjutsu, and I left them to it while I waited for the explosion to die down. When it did, capturing the second Hokage in his own Grand Sand Mausoleum was easy. And at that, I collapsed to my knees, panting for breath as I allowed myself to truly feel the effects of the day. My chakra capacity was practically shot as I waited for it to regenerate while I watched Orochimaru and Hiruzen duke it out.

To call it a fight would be generous as Hiruzen honestly looked like a pissed off father giving his recalcitrant son the beating of his life. Orochimaru got a few hits in, but the tired old man was nowhere to be found and the traitorous Sannin was forced to contend with the might of the God of Shinobi in full swing.

A/N; Fuck. Fuck. That one was a hell of a lot to write. Did I do the fight justice? Did I flop at the end? Let me knowwwww. That's two fights over and done with in the same chapter. How was it?