A Count Down To Death

Author Note: Felt weird about this chapter but Ill let you guys decide on that.

"Well, that's unsettling, to say the least." Landing in a clearing close to the Hidden Leaf village's western gate, Shikamaru looked at the impossible to ignore inferno in the distance. 'What could cause a fire like that to start?' Following Shikamaru was Choji and Ino who landed next to him. "From across the village the fire didn't look too bad but this…"

Choji and Shikamaru nodded agreeing with Ino as she felt a sense of familiarity seeing flames acting so strange and burning with such ferocity. 'No… I'm probably just imagining it he wouldn't have reason to be here.' Shaking the thought out of her head, she looked up and spotted another group landing near them.

"Hinata, Kiba, Shino you were all called here too?" They all nodded as they tried to get a grasp on what the hell was going on here. "Hey speaking of that, where is Kurenai and Asuma sensei?" The teams were there, but their team leaders were not. It was bizarre, to say the least as two groups continued to wait.

And it didn't take long for the final group to arrive. "We came here as fast as we could!" Clearly out of breath, a yellow heart boy who was none other than Naruto was running alongside Sakura and the clearly less enthusiastic Sasuke. "Looks like we're all here." Looking around despite saying that Ino still couldn't spot a single Leader, even Kakashi wasn't here.

"So do any of you guys have a clue why we were gathered here?" Sakura looked at everyone else, and everyone shook their heads. "Though if I had to guess it definitely has something to do with that fire. I saw over a hundred Jonin and Chunnin alike forming a suppression perimeter around the area." Hearing Shikamaru mention such a staggering number the others were stumped.

"Hey, actually where is Guy sensei's team?" With all of them there and with Team Guy and Team Kakashi being barred from missions for a while it made no sense. "I'm afraid they won't be joining us." Standing in front of all the teams with her hand's behind her back, Tsunade was accompanied by both their teachers and Anbu alike.

"Lady Tsunade? What's going on?" I asked the most obvious question, and everyone waited for a response as seeing their teacher's and Anbu alike lined up like this was strange. "I'm afraid there has been a battle that broke out inside of the village. With their goal being Danzo they have temporarily in compacted Team Guy although they are safe."

Being filled in on what was happening, everyone looked surprised. "Wait. What? Something happened to bushy brow and the others?" Naruto was obviously the one most concerned as Tsunade nodded. "So do we know who did it? Who the person attacking the village is." Once again, Tsunade nodded towards Shikamaru's question, clearly hesitant.

"What I'm about to tell you is confidential and will not be leaked outside of this group do you understand?" Everyone's faces went stern as they saw all their teachers show that they should agree. "Yes, mam." Everyone seemed to agree even though some were hesitant. "The infiltrator is currently in a strange position with the Leaf. They were both a potential ally or enemy, however…"

Immediately everyone from Asuma's team began to have their faces grow pale. "Lady Tsunade… You're not talking about him, right?" Speaking slowly, Ino was waiting for an act of denial; however, it never came. "Wait, who? Who are you talking about Ino?" Sakura looked at Ino confused as Tsunade explained.

"His name is Rei, Asuma and his team had gone on a mission concerning him and his existence not too long ago. We had hoped to set up good relations between the village, and I spent a lot of time convincing both the Council and the Daimyo to leave him be. However, pulling a stunt like this…" Doing something like this was grounds for Rei to be hunted down and captured if not worse.

"For you guys to actually want him to ally with you he must be special right? What exactly can he do?" Sasuke had an uninterested look on his face as he asked this question, causing Tsunade to sigh. "He-" Before she could say anything, something happened in the distance behind her.

A wave of pure fire shot into the sky turning to red for a moment as the cloud's dissipated from the heat. The shockwave from the sudden temperature change flew over everyone as they guarded themselves. Seeing the entire sky temporarily lit a flame Sasuke's question answered itself.

"That would be his combat ability. While his accomplishments stretch down a far line, I think the fact he was able to stop Guy of people is enough to indicate how powerful he is." Kakashi's words sunk in as Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were clearly the ones deepest in thought. "In any case, our mission is simple. We will be splitting into our groups to find Rei and surround Rei hopefully ending in his capture along with any of his associates."

Hearing the word capture, Sasuke spoke again. "Capture?" Seemingly surprised, Tsunade explained. "He hasn't killed or caused any civilian casualties, and his target is Danzo, not the Leaf." Tsunade didn't give much insight, but it was obvious she intended to keep relations with Rei positive despite the mess.

"Why is he after Danzo of all people? It makes no sense. From what we saw, he barely acts on impulse and even more rarely gets angry." Shikamaru spoke to himself as Choji agreed. Ino was thinking to herself trying to figure it out as well. She considered Rei a friend despite everything and also felt she knew his personality well enough.

Shikamaru was right when he said he barely acts on impulse or gets angry. He's a kid like them but has a more mature mentality. He wouldn't have done something like this without thinking about the consequences. 'Something must have happened after we left… Danzo had to have done something.'

When everyone got with their respective teachers and began to move the onslaught, Rei was releasing on Danzo continued. It would be a lie to call it a fight or a battle in all honesty; it was futile resistance. At first, Danzo thought constant use of Izanagi would allow him to win no issue. He could use it even if he was burned to ash or his arm was cut off.

However, the issue came when he tried to attack back. Ryujin Jakka is not just strong because of its ability to burn almost anything with temperatures capable of reaching the sun's surface. It was the fact that the flames could be controlled strictly through training.

And even with Rei's lack of perfecting it, nothing Danzo due could get through the flame's protecting Rei. Wind Style was infective due to the heat and its heat burst. Water and Fire Style were obviously also out of the question leaving Danzo with two options. Trying to delay Rei with Earth Style while semi-effective wouldn't last and was too slow to do anything to Rei's speed.

And Wood Style which was, in all honesty, a hopeless endeavour. "I didn't think he would push me this far." As Danzo attempted to run between two building's, he felt the heat behind him increase. Jumping into the air, Rei raised Ryujin Jakka upward before waving it towards the ground at the buildings Danzo was running between.

As the fire charged forth, it engulfed Danzo and the surrounding buildings as it spread out engulfing and melting everything in the vicinity. Using Flash Step while still in the air Rei dash out of the range of his own attack before landing on an electric line towering over the area's buildings. Turning his head, he immediately spotted Danzo in the distance.

'I've killed him three times over now, including the first time would be four. Is there really no limit to how many times he can be killed?' Rei bit his lip slightly while looking at Danzo closely observing his appearance. 'No, not possible. A Jutsu that can bring you back to life that has to have a weakness.'

Looking closer at Danzo's arm covered in Sharingan, Rei knew just how much Danzo relied on that arm from his confidence when it was first revealed. "Wait for a second…" He might have missed it before due to being in the middle of fighting him and the flame's obscuring his vision. But looking closer he swore some of the eyes on Danzo's arm were closed instead of open.

"This would be close to reality rewriting meaning… Let's hope I'm right and this isn't a waste." Rei sealed Ryujin Jakka reverting it to its original form and doing so caused the majority of the fire's started by him to die down. However, the walls surrounding Team Guy remained of his own volition. 'Hmm has he finally begun to run low on power? This could be my chance; there was no reason for him.

As the two of them stared at one, another Rei raised one of his hands in front of him, holding up two fingers. In the ninja world, this would be the sign of the Seal of Confrontation used in sparring matches. However seeing it, after all, they had gone through made no sense. 'What is up to…'

"Hear me and be smitten by my word. The Blackened Dogs of the layered world I call unto thee. Through grip and force, might yet unknown, use your fangs and pierce their flesh, bind their soul and hold them absolute." Speaking an incantation out loud while Danzo could not hear Rei he saw something begin to change.

As if the void around Rei was distorted and cracking, he watched as six holes that seemingly broke the boundaries of reality appeared behind Rei's back. Rei was actually sweating from using this Kido just because it was close to his Kido cap along with the fact it took a lot of Reiatsu to use. "Bakudo #58: Abisubaito!"

As soon as the spell was completed Danzo saw something horrifying approach him. Like a shifting void inanimate but clearly sentient six figures shot out from the cracks leading to someplace unknown. These beings were like dogs having legs and gaping mouths open to an unnatural level.

Their eyes grew red, and the area behind their body stretched all the way back to the cracked holes they originated from. "Ugh! What the hell are those things." They gave off a pure sense of unnaturalness as Danzo quickly dodged out of the way of the first two as they conjoined on his location.

However, even still they followed despite how he moved or dodged, they made strict turns and followed until while in mid-air one finally grabbed hold. Sinking their jaw's seemingly into his flesh and even further than that. "AAGH!" An old ruffled scream echoed out as Danzo found himself wrapped in them as they all bit into different parts of his body.

'Can't move… His reservoir of techniques only grows as we fight… This doesn't make sense.' Having Danzo completely immobilized Rei used Flash Step disappearing and soon reappearing in front of Danzo as he struggled to move. "No use in trying to fight Danzo. If I had to guess your ability to keep coming back to life after death is linked to the eyes on that arm of yours."

Having a better look now Rei could see indeed four eyes had closed on the arm exactly the number of times he had killed Danzo. "That's quite a powerful ability for someone as old as you. And that arm looks like it's less than legal no wonder you kept it hidden." Listening to Rei while trapped Danzo sneered not wanting to listen any further.

Danzo's eyes sharpened when he felt Rei had lowered his guard as he activated Izanagi. Wanting to rewrite the fact he was ever captured and appear behind Rei for a finishing blow Izanagi activated. Rei saw Danzo fade in front of his eyes as he appeared behind Rei. 'Gotcha!'

Just as he was prepared to attack, Danzo found himself unable to move. Again he felt the same pain as last time as he looked down at his body and saw the strange dog-like beings were still gripped into his body. "What… That's impossible!" Rei slowly turned around undisturbed as he looked unsympathetic.

"The dogs summoned by Abisubaito are special. They are not affected by our- No, I should say your word's rules and logic. It doesn't matter if you rewrite reality or teleport across the world they won't be affected and will never let go. I just had to make sure what you were doing really was rewriting reality and not some trick or Genjutsu. Luckily you were dumb enough to let me kill you four times and get a good idea of it."

Explaining this to him, Danzo felt his eyes turn grim. "No… No, that's impossible. How could you have a counter for Izanagi! You couldn't have known about it!" Rei nodded his head as he looked at Danzo. "Of course I didn't but then again doesn't really matter. I have the results of thousands of years' worth of experience."

Even if he didn't know it personally, Ryujin Jakka told him that Kido itself was older than even him. The people who created it had gone through more battles than imaginable, and because of that, they were able to create a Kido for almost any occasion. The only real issue was that all Kido could be suppressed by Spiritual Energy or enough raw power in general.

Luckily however Danzo and Izanagi had neither of those things. "Now then Danzo now that we finally have a chance to see one another face to face. How about we start counting down your lives until your on your final one shall we?" Realizing what kind of situation he was in Danzo knew exactly how many lives he had left.

As Rei raised Ryujin Jakka towards Danzo's heart, he smoked in a whisper. "Five already down five left to go. Or I guess now we would be down to four?" Danzo's heart was run through with one swift push, and out of the wish not to die, he used Izanagi. The process continued with Bakudo remaining active pinning him in place.

"Three."