Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

The Shinden Saga – Arc 2: Pain Divine

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Chapter 129 – Challenging Destruction

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Standing on the ocean face to face with the one who killed his mother, Takeshi Minamoto has left behind any feeling of inferiority or fear. Like his father who stands by his side, he expresses the powers of his tengu. His body emits light and his black hair shines in white, to contrast with the black aura of Tsubai.

Hyakki Otsutsuki looks at the duo, pleased by their response. Hearing his name called by the goddess who came to hold a barrier between Naruto Uzumaki and him, he looks up to see her and listens.

"Don't play around." Naobi demands. "Don't hold back."

"Hmph!" the god of destruction smirks as a response before looking back at his opponents.

Sakitsuki, with her golden eyes full of worries, sees the 7th Hokage on his way to the shore of his land, absolutely unaware of what is to happen here. There is no way for her or anyone to undo this cover now.

"Naobi-sama, I beg you, please!" the young celestial dares to ask her mistress. "This fight is unnecessary. Just accept to erase their memories and leave them be. I'll follow you and never set foot on this world again."

"You're pathetic." Naobi coldly answers, in all honesty, which startles Saki. "Had I not announced my presence, you would have selfishly let these ninjas eliminate Hyakki. All just for what? A mere human who won't even live up to 3% of your lifetime."

With a sorry but unashamed face, Sakitsuki slowly shakes her head to deny what the goddess of purity just stated. Naobi doesn't fail to notice this answer.

"Hm? Do you mean…" she says before looking down at the ninja in black with her Sharin-Byakugan. "This can't be…" she thinks, as she remarks more than just the 3 creatures in Takeshi's mind. She seems, like anyone else, unable to detect the mystic presence in the Minamoto's soul, but can see his unique chakra with her eyes.

Unlike what she senses in Tsubai, there isn't just the bits of power of the Minamoto lineage. There is another type of energy that even her clan can't naturally master. A bestial power that could gift eternal youth to its host, making him even closer to timelessness than her kind.

"Is this really the only reason you accepted your feelings?" Naobi asks her pupil, disgusted. "That man is only confusing you. You can't limit yourself to the love of a savage who partakes in the arts of war."

"I admit that ninjas are no better than other life forms and succumb to violence." Saki argues. "But I see our fellows commit worse than that. Humans, unlike us, are in an age of consciousness. They strive toward our level."

"No." Naobi denies. "Unlike us, these beings are unaware of what stakes exist beyond their sky. When they fight their wars and entertain such destruction, they harm what they perceive as everything. If they were aware of the heavenly miracles and endless expansion of the universe, they would kill each other over empty spaces."

"… Takeshi and his friends are not what you describe." Saki answers. "They only defend themselves from us. They're not even aware of the laws we want to turn them in for. Even the crimes of their kind were originally from one of us."

"I see you thought through your arguments at the expense of our clan." Naobi acknowledges. "Are this mere human and his allies really going to die against Hyakki for the right to keep you?"

"This is just human nature. They seek justice and stand up for themselves." Saki explains before begging her again. "But it isn't necessary now. I will give up on my feelings, turn away from this world and never wrong the Shinden again. All I ask is that you let Takeshi live."

"Oh, Saki…" Naobi sadly replies, confused about the genuine love her student expresses. "Unfortunately, I am true to the rules. I cannot interfere with Hyakki's mission. No matter who's life is at risk, I won't intervene. I only am allowed to prevent the implication of Naruto Uzumaki. Besides, your vision of human nature isn't totally right. These men aren't here for justice. They seek vengeance."

Down on the sea, Hyakki takes a step forward and analyzes his opponents. He senses Kokoro and her fighting stance in the back, but focuses on the Minamoto father and son before him. Noticing their full display of discontent and rising hate, he questions.

"I must have really hit a nerve last time." he says with a smile. "Just one detail… You seem to be short staffed this time. Where is the other tengu user I saw last time? The black haired woman?"

Triggered by this careless remark, Tsubai clenches his teeth and fists and prepares to take a step forward. Next to him however, Takeshi's emotions flow faster. Angered by this comment that he takes as a mockery, he rushes forward at full speed, with his hand covered in white lightning.

Shiroden

Without hesitation he immediately engages with his most deadly jutsu and aims for one of the enemy's hearts. Hyakki, who was just waiting for this, enters his Shinsen Kata and avoids the ninja's trajectory, dodging his light blade with matching speed.

Takeshi manages to turn around and attempts to strike again with the same blade, but backs off at the last moment and jumps away, as advised in panic by Tentoki inside of him. Hyakki turned around even quicker than him and, just where Takeshi was standing, made a white container of dismantling using Jinton that immediately activated. Fortunately, the ninja in black got away in time. Behind Hyakki, Tsubai makes his move.

Meiton – Kuroinami

He throws a wave of dark chakra from his hands and sends it to Hyakki who turns around again and intercepts it with his still active white cube. Surprisingly, rather than just erasing the black wave, the dismantling shape is forced to confront the negative energy in a draw collision. To stop it, the god of destruction upgrades his jutsu with Mijinton, his atom release. When the white cube turns black, it easily eradicates the Meiton of Tsubai.

Needing to focus on Takeshi, Hyakki gazes in his back with his Byakugan, healed by his Shinsen Kata. He sees the ninja leap away instead of striking in his back, to get out of range for another attack coming from the front.

Shakuton – Kajosatsu

Before him, Hyakki feels scorching heat orbs come toward him. Yukiko, among the ninjas from Kiri, jumped into action with her Kekkei Genkai. Having dispelled his dismantling shape, the god of destruction just identifies the type of jutsu it is and lets it strike his body.

Those orbs would have vaporized all the water in a human's body and killed him within seconds. But the body of a celestial doesn't require hydration to live. And in the case of a Shinsen, his chakra will re-hydrate and heal his body as quickly as it's being dried. Therefore, Yukiko's Shakuton has apparently no effect on Hyakki.

But she isn't the only one to have stepped in. Right after these orbs strike, a massive water wave filled with floating boulders carries the celestial away. Of course, Hyakki can't be drowned or hurt by this, so he just lets himself go with the flow and mistrustfully analyzes the boulders around him that he notices lighting up just before they all detonate.

Bakuton – Iwabaku

The wave was made by Kokoro and the many stones inside by Kaori. She filled these rocks with her explosive chakra and just activated them as bombs all together to blast the enemy. The massive wave explodes and spreads away in all directions. Water drops even land on the robes of Sakitsuki and Naobi Otsutsuki who spectate from above.

The mighty goddess of creation is unfazed. She sees through the blast and shows no alarming reaction. Noticing this lack of concern, Kokoro commands the army to engage the certainly not beaten enemy. As the ninjas rush forward, they see the vapor and water settle and reveal the nearly unharmed celestial, letting himself fall down in the sea.

After sinking a few meters down, Hyakki focuses his energy to be carried back to the surface. This causes an oddly powerful shock wave that troubles the sea and pushes the running army back. Takeshi gets in position and runs toward the enemy as he sets foot on the surface again. Before he reaches him, he sees him dip his finger tips in the ocean and let his chakra spread through.

Mijinton – Hokai

Identifying it, and seeing it start to spread, Takeshi warns everyone in panic.

"JUMP!" he screams before leaping off the surface of the sea and avoiding the spread that was about to reach him first.

The nearest ninjas, unable to react in time, are touched by the ripple that spreads through their body and rapidly disintegrates them, reducing them to atoms. Takeshi gasps in horror at this sight, especially when he notices it reaching his teammates. Kokoro and Yukiko jumped soon enough, but not Kaori. Fortunately, Tsubai makes a wise move to help.

Jikanteido

With a time pause, he freezes everything including the deadly energy and its effect. Only Takeshi and him can move. The ninja in black hurries to join his father's side and the two Minamoto go to check on the disintegrating ninjas and Kaori. Hyakki's jutsu has spread up her left leg to her knee.

Not knowing what to do, Takeshi waits for Tentoki's advice before realizing that he's as frozen as the rest of the world. In Tsubai's mind, Daikoku shares his thoughts as he analyzes Kaori.

"All the others are already disintegrated to their upper body." he first remarks. "We can't save them anymore, but there's gotta be something we can do for this girl… Before that, your son should make sure no one else stays on the surface and makes contact with this thing."

"Takeshi, lift everyone up." Tsubai listens to his tengu and gives an order to his son who quickly nods and rushes to proceed.

Now looking at Kaori, Tsubai tries to think of a solution. He can't cancel Hyakki's chakra with Meiton because it seems too complex for this. Besides, Mijinton's dismantling surpasses his chakra's negativity. The only option to prevent this jutsu from spreading further in Kaori's body is to interrupt it, by removing the affected part.

Tsubai grabs the sword in the hand of a nearby ninja and holds it firmly next to Kaori's leg. He slowly breathes to focus and gather courage before executing his plan. He swiftly cuts above Kaori's left knee and slices off her leg to save her. He throws the blade away, and looks around to notice a pleasing fact. Despite his action on her body, time didn't resume.

His control over JIkanteido must have grown over time. By any chance, this leaves more time for Takeshi to save everyone, and for him to settle something else. Tsubai looks at Hyakki who's as inert as the rest of the world. His priority should be to get rid of his Shinsen form.

When time resumes, the god of destruction reacts in consequence as he could feel the movements and chakra during the pause thanks to his divine form. He quickly stands up and throws a high back kick to hit Tsubai in the stomach. The Minamoto apparently sneaked behind him to get closer. But this one appeared to be just a shadow clone.

Meiton – Yami Senpu

Emerging from the sea under Hyakki's feet comes a dark tornado that troubles all his senses and fails to absorb his chakra. The god of destruction quickly gets rid of it.

Inyoton – Haki

Using this divine skill, he nullifies this Ninjutsu, but was distracted enough for the real Tsubai to proceed with his plan. As soon as the whirlwind disappears, the celestial senses a hand land on his forehead.

Kyoku Kyuin

With this physical contact, Tsubai tries to absorb all the memories that Hyakki has about his sage god form. Unfortunately, not only does it not deactivate his transformation, but the memories Tsubai is trying to take seemingly don't exist. It's like Hyakki has no memories of ever learning this jutsu.

"Oh! Hahaha!" Hyakki loudly laughs, realizing what Tsubai attempted. "Is this Kyoku Kyuin? How did you get such an ability? Is this due to the Daitengu offspring in your body? Are these tiny fragments of souls a way through which this creature becomes stronger?"

"How the hell are you still in that form?" Tsubai yells, ignoring Hyakki's questions.

Frustrated and feeling unsafe at such a distance, Tsubai makes a hood of darkness appear over his head and back, and forms a scythe in his hand. The same scythe he used to seal Katashiki Otsutsuki.

Meiton – Shinigami Kusari

He immediately throws it down on Hyakki to eliminate him like he did last time, but is effortlessly stopped. The young god catches the scythe's dark blade between his fingers. Tsubai hatefully stares at his enemy's smiling face and shakes his hand to get the scythe away, but fails. Before he can leap away to safety, Hyakki catches the wrist from the hand that lies on his forehead.

"So that was your plan?" he tells the Minamoto father. "Let me tell you something, old man. I am nicknamed the born sage for a reason. This form, Shinsen Kata, is a skill that most of my fellows can only desire and that only the mightiest of our kind can acquire after centuries of training."

As he says this sentence he looks up to the sky, where Naobi is, knowing that this is how she acquired this same skill.

"But I am different." he adds, looking back to Tsubai. "Unlike others, I didn't learn Shinsen Kata. I doubt I'd have succeeded in this anyway… I didn't need any training, for I was born with this transformation. This is why your jutsu didn't work. There is no memory that you can steal to take this form away. It is, to me, as innate as crying for a human baby."

After this revelation, he tightens his hold on the dark scythe and cracks the blade to destroy it. With his left hand, he twists and breaks Tsubai's ankle. With his now free right hand, he gathers his Mijinton in his palm and prepares to finish the Minamoto with the same deadly palm he used against his wife.

Behind them, Takeshi managed to save all those he had to save before the time pause ended. Kokoro and Yukiko, when they land back on the ground, are startled by the scream of Kaori who reacts late to the pain of her severed leg. She quickly understands what happens and tries to contain her reaction, not to appear ungrateful.

While most are distracted by Kaori, Takeshi focuses on his dad, whom he refuses to lose like his mother. In the distance, he sees the dark scythe of his father collapsing as the enemy has him in his grip.

"NO!" he exclaims before rushing to his dad's rescue.

Seeing his death come to him, Tsubai tries to delay it with another time pause, but can't use this jutsu at full power again so soon. Instead he just slows time down by three times, which makes his enemy slower, but not enough for him to have any chance to keep up. Still, it is of use to his son, here to save him.

Koton – Shunshin

Takeshi arrives at tremendous speed, behind the Otsutsuki who notices him with his Byakugan and moves aside to dodge his coming offensive. But Takeshi wasn't aiming for an attack first. Instead, he passes by and catches his father with a swift that surprises the god of destruction. Once he got his father out of range of the god's arms, the Kiri-nin pushes Hyakki away with a kick in the face.

The celestial is repelled and lands on his feet further away. Unsettled by this movement, he touches his face and looks at Takeshi confusingly. This ninja just managed to move fast enough to surprise him, even though he is still in Shinsen Kata. In Takeshi's mind, Tentoki reacts positively.

"We still don't know why you can move in frozen time, but it sure comes in handy." he remarks, unaware of Takeshi's deep connection with Sojobo. "We may actually have a chance to keep up with a god."

Tsubai stares at Takeshi confidently, realizing that this battle should be up to him now. Hyakki focuses on feeling his opponent's chakra. Unlike that of the woman who blinded him last time, the Minamoto father or the woman who leads Kiri's army, Takeshi's chakra is way too similar to that of a Daitengu.

All the aforementioned ninjas' energy is, compared to pure Daitengu chakra, like Biju chakra compared to Rikudo chakra. Essentially, one is a fragment of the other. Takeshi's body seems to have more than just a tiny fragment of a Daitengu's power. His chakra is oddly much more similar to that of someone else Hyakki knows. As if Takeshi was actually the yamabushi of a Daitengu.

Intrigued and appealed by this nature, but ashamed by the hit he just took involuntarily in front of Naobi's eyes, the god of destruction clenches his teeth and gets in a hurry to finish this fight.

Joshi Tenso

With the same jutsu he uses to travel interstellar distances in seconds, he instantly transfers himself behind Takeshi. Seeing the enemy's body decompose and come back in shape behind his son's back, Tsubai yells to alert him. The ninja in black turns around in time and crosses his arms to block a back-slap from Hyakki that sends him fluttering into the crowd of confused ninjas.

Takeshi rolls in a ball and lands safely on the water surface, ready to get back in action. Before engaging again, Hyakki stares at Tsubai who sits down behind him. When he warned his son just a moment ago, the Otsutsuki didn't hear it normally. It sounded as if his speech had been accelerated. From this observation, and the feeling he gets from the current flow of time and space, he understands what is happening. Kala, or Jikanteido, is still in use but with a lighter effect.

Somehow, Takeshi is unaffected by this jutsu and therefore everyone else appears slowed down to his eyes. He finds this remarkable, but also quite odd that Naobi still didn't show a reaction to this. Does she need a better appreciation of this fact? To see, he leaps forward at the same time as Takeshi and gets in a hand to hand confrontation.

The Kiri-nin manages to keep his distance and avoid any fatal hit while keeping up with the god's movements and actually landing a few hits. Since his hits seem to do no damage, Takeshi creates a clone to double his effort. Carefully and skillfully, Hyakki takes on the original and his clone.

When he blocks a knee kick from the clone, he catches him by the leg and uses him as a bat to smash the original away right before he can land a Shiden. Still holding the clone, Hyakki strikes all the surrounding ninjas to free some space. It takes less than a second for Takeshi to jump back in action right as the clone vanishes.

Kokoro and Yukiko are taking care of Kaori's wound and severed limb as this happens. Distracted, the 3 look at the silhouettes flashing through the crowd, way too fast for their eyes. Like every other ninja, they just stand back and acknowledge that they're just fodder to the situation. Tsubai, still surprised that Hyakki just stopped giving him attention, clenches his fists in excitement. To support his son, he holds a hand sign and maintains his time jutsu to keep Takeshi's boost active.

Not even Sakitsuki, standing above, can follow the movements of the ninja in black and the god of destruction. No one can keep up with the swiftness of this battle. No one, except Naobi Otsutsuki. For her, it's effortless to follow and analyze the fight as it happens. She sees the white flashes around the ninja, and senses the time-space disruption caused by Tsubai. This combination grants Takeshi the ability to match, and maybe surpass the speed of a Shinsen.

"What this man is doing is based on Jikukan jutsu (Space-time jutsu) and Meiton." she remarks about Tsubai, getting the attention of Saki who's trembling, worried for Takeshi. "The speed it allows this ninja to reach is impressive. But it would certainly be even greater if he was the one controlling time, and not relying on someone else's help… I once knew a woman who could use both Koton and Meiton, but she wasn't such a fighter."

"This… is what the being called Sojobo is capable of." Sakitsuki comments, which intrigues her mistress.

"I see." Naobi simply answers. "This boy, Takeshi Minamoto, is indeed more than human. Him and this creature you mentioned seem to be even more than celestial. Using both Kala and Koton could make them surpass the speed of any living being. The light of Koton, the lightning of Raiton, the swiftness of Jinton, the enhancement of Shinsen Kata… None of these alone could bring to this level."

Indeed, as Takeshi realizes just how far he can go, he stops limiting himself and goes as fast as he currently can. Hyakki, actually starting to feel overwhelmed, realizes that he's at a disadvantage. A mere human managed to surpass him in terms of physical performance. He can't land any more hits but tanks many more from the ninja. Still, they only slightly damage him and the bruises quickly heal.

It is, however, infuriating. Enough for Hyakki to question his implication in this fight. Isn't he giving everything as Naobi demanded? He should stop letting this man think that he has a chance and annihilate this ninjas' hopes now. He spins around and creates a short-lived chakra barrier to force Takeshi to step back, before doing so himself. The yamabushi, in the heat of action, doesn't let his opponent catch a break.

Tengudama

He gathers tengu chakra in an orb that grows to the size of a basketball and shoots it to Hyakki who holds his hand forward, ready to catch and contain it like he did last time. Yet, right before it touches his palm, he sees it be deviated. On his left, Takeshi rushed closer, faster than the projectile. He catches it on the side and quickly spins around to throw it again, into the god's left hip.

This movement was so fast that Hyakki barely saw it coming. And now he has no way to intercept the orb in time. It strikes and carries him further in the sky before exploding. The resulting blast, with Hyakki in the middle, blinds everyone and covers approximately the diameter of a large village.

Kokoro, Tsubai and everyone else look at the blast, flabbergasted. Saki, who can see inside, and Naobi, who senses her colleague, don't have the same reaction. They see Hyakki irradiated and injured, but quickly healing all his wounds. The golden-eyed one is still surprised that the god of destruction took so little damage from such an attack.

Tired of the Minamoto's unfair speed, the god of youth puts an end to it. Before the flash of the explosion settles, he makes a repulsion of wind that he sends far away toward Tsubai who fails to see it coming and is pressured down under the water, interrupting his Jikanteido. Takeshi didn't notice it yet, so he lets Hyakki's offensive surprise him.

Mijinton – Genkai Hakuri

A massive black translucent column emerges from the settling blast and Takeshi only has time to let himself fall back to avoid being reduced to particles. The jutsu onlyl breaks his headband and shaves off the metal plate with the symbol of Kiri before passing through the ocean, and the whole planet. On the other side of the world, it reemerges in another ocean on the west of the land of Wind after going all the way through each layer of Earth twice.

Takeshi, who almost fell to his knees, stands straight again but is surprised by a light punch in his face, from the god of destruction. As he flies back into the army of Kiri, Takeshi's leg is caught by Hyakki again. To eliminate the ninjas who attempt to help their hero, the Otsutsuki uses him as a bat again to strike everyone out of the way.

Seeing Kokoro come toward him, Hyakki ends this melee by tossing Takeshi toward her, which violently strikes her back. Takeshi hurries to stand up, obviously hurt but playing it down, now conscious that his father isn't helping anymore. He sees Hyakki hover toward him and attempt a simple flicker on his forehead. Focused again, he dodges it. One of the ninjas standing behind Takeshi is pushed away by just the repulsion caused by the flicker.

Understanding how serious his opponent has gotten, the Minamoto does his best to dodge every next attack.

"Even without Kala, your Shunshin is really a pain in the ass!" Hyakki exclaims while Takeshi keeps avoiding all his hits out of adrenaline.

"Takeshi, we're out of options!" Tentoki exclaims, uncertain about this situation. "Even with all we managed to throw at him with Tsubai's combo, he's unharmed. And we failed to deactivate his god mode. We have to run away and get to Naruto by ourselves."

While he's busied by his tengu, Hyakki takes Takeshi off guard with a lightning shock through the water around him. The electricity spreads through the Minamoto's body and paralyzes him long enough for Hyakki to land a definitive hit.

Mijinton – Hokai Juken

Using his Byakugan and gentle fist, he pokes into Takeshi's tenketsu and, instead of just disrupting them to temporarily interrupt his chakra flow, he completely destroys them by dismantling them. This results in a total death of more than a third of Takeshi's chakra pathway system, making the use of any jutsu significantly more complicated, and most of them impossible.

Kaori and Yukiko gasp out of shock when they see this violent strike. Sakitsuki does the same, as she sees the broken pathways inside her lover. Takeshi's hair stops shining and goes back to black. After this swift fatal combo, the god of destruction, catches him nearly passed out by the neck and strangles him. In his other hand, he makes a new translucent cube of Mijinton.

Inside Takeshi's mind, his tengu refuse to give up.

"Takeshi! Use my voice!" Amabie begs him. "It worked last time! I can do it again!"

Resolved not to listen to her or use his mother's abilities, Takeshi ignores the mermaid again and clenches his teeth. Tentoki, knowing that he doesn't have time to argue about this, demands another solution.

"Fear Itself! Your turn!" he tells Makura who immediately executes this order.

The wooden shape of the tengu appears behind his host to the eyes of Hyakki who boringly looks up to see it. Makura raises one hand and elongates his dark wood claws to stab through the god's shoulders, arms and chest. His skin is too tough for them to pass through and they just merely leave cuts, but it is still enough to trigger Makura's true ability.

Genjutsu – Narakumi

Everything becomes dark around Hyakki who calmly looks around and lightly laughs, understanding what stupid category of jutsu his opponent is attempting.

"What game are you playing, Yamabushi?" he mocks him.

However, in this dark imaginary space, Hyakki notices that it is not only his sight and hearing that are being tricked, but his other senses and mind as well. He can't feel anyone's chakra anymore, other than his own. And, unexpectedly, his thoughts bring him to remember some dark passages of his past.

For a moment, thinking he's left alone with himself in there, he looks around to find any presence to comfort him. Focusing on the brightest side of his reemerging memories, he gently rubs his fingers against the white hair brace that he strapped around his right arm. He looks at it and gets at ease.

Suddenly, breaking the complete silence, he hears a sigh. A simple sigh that is clearly more than enough for him to recognize who's voice it is. A sigh that turns all his wonders into nightmares. A sigh that forbids his freedom and happiness. He feels like his soul is being crushed when he hears this voice pronounce a few words that he's heard before.

"The love you give to others is all that you don't give yourself. How pathetic!" it says.

Out from the dark, Hyakki's attention is caught by a red light. In front of him he sees the source of this flash. An eye. An eye with a red pupil. A Mangekyo Sharingan with the pattern of a black sun cross. The right eye of his father, Isshiki Otsutsuki.

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End of Chapter 129 – Next Chapter: Challenging Destruction II