Book 2: The Three of Us

Chapter 14: Fight to The Death

In mere seconds the village went from peaceful to complete chaos. Sakura stands up abruptly from the chair as everyone in the tea house falls into panic. Her loud voice cuts through all the noise, quickly taking control of the room, "Everyone, listen to me right now. The village is under attack. Chunin are in charge of evacuating genin and civilians. Find the nearest chunin and they'll tell you where you need to go."

The fear and panic is still present in the faces of the people who fill the room, but they all quickly snap into focus and do what they're told. I finish my cup of tea, knowing this might be my last one for quite a while, and move to stand up. My sharingan is activated the moment I stand, ready for action.

Being part of the group that revised the attack and evacuation plans, I take note of the districts that will be evacuated first and where the meet up points are. Placing a kiss on Sakura's forehead, we make eye contact as I pull away. We share a look of understanding and she speaks, "Be safe. Try not to do anything stupid." She gives me a quick kiss before taking off in the direction of the hokage tower, on her way to assist Tsunade.

Stepping outside, I make my way directly where the attacks are taking place. I would be needed to protect the people in those areas as the chunin helped them evacuate.

A group of chunin are guiding the teachers and students of the civilian school, doing everything they can to make sure no one gets left behind. The large group has no easy way to make it through the chaos around them, slowing them down and keeping them from evacuating. A stray attack goes directly towards a building near them, causing large chunks of debris to go flying everywhere. A large piece is headed directly towards them, and within seconds I'm standing in the path and activating my mangekyo as susano forms around me.

The heavy red chakra forms into a fully armored susano from the chest up, protecting them all from harm. One of the chunin stands near me, looking at my susano is awe, unable to stop from saying, "Holy shit." Another one of the chunin looks at me in disbelief and I recognize him as an Uchiha.

I raise my voice to be heard over the noise around us, "I've got you covered. Focus on getting this group out of here. I'll be protecting you until you're far enough away from the attacks."

The Uchiha nobs in understanding, "Thank you, Itachi-sama." He turns his back towards the group and guides them as quickly as they can through the streets.

Once they are all out of harms way, I deactivate my susano and turn my attention to the attackers. It's clear from what Kisame told me that the people here are the Six Paths of Pain, the ones responsible for Jiraya's death. After the unsettling quiet from the Akatsuki, they were finally back.

The shortest of the group runs through hand signs, summoning beast all over the village. A beast similar to a rhino comes running full force at me. Activating amatarasu sends pain through out my body starting from my left eye. Using it momentarily blurs my vision as blood pours out of my eye.

The distraction of the burning animal allows me to rush towards the one that summoned it. Pulling out a kunai, I attack in close combat, easily overwhelming them. Before I can get in a kill hit, another one of the Paths of Pain launch an attack at me, forcing me to jump away.

As I fight three against one, I notice the reaction time is off. Each Path is able to notice an attack even when I know I've hit a blind spot in there defense. Watching what each one is looking at as I attack helps me realize that the only possible explanation for this is that they all can see from each others eyes. Exploiting the weaknesses in there defense individually won't work to defeat them. Together they were able to cover each others weaknesses that one would normally use to defeat them.

Using genjutsu, even tsukiyomi was out of the question. The attack would do very little against them and would be nothing more then a waste of chakra. My chakra was already running low from the use of my mangyeko and one of the Paths ability to absorb chakra which left elemental ninjutsu useless unless used far away from that Path. Having my fire jutsus absorbed and thrown back at me was a bit of a shock. 

I knew that the only way to defeat them is by launching attacks at them that were too fast for them to have time to react to. It didn't matter if they saw the attack coming if they were unable to react to it in time. In my head I hear Sakura telling me not to do anything stupid. I send an unheard apology to her, telling her I'm definitely going to do something stupid. Scratch that, I was already doing something stupid.

Focusing on my chakra as it travels through my body, I use it to over ride my own muscle memory. Using my chakra network for my reaction time allows a smoother response from my sharingan to the rest of my body. Doing this allows my body to respond just as quickly to an attack as my sharingan is able to see it.

Looking up, one of the Paths is above the middle of the village, a dense ball of chakra forming and pulling pieces of buildings and earth towards it. Even from here I can feel the pull of it. I send chakra to my feet to keep me steady on the ground. Whatever this was, it wouldn't be good. The unknown chakra sphere drops towards the ground, exploding upon impact, carving a deep crater in the earth and flattening all of Konoha.

The shock wave from it breaks apart the ground I'm on and send me and my opponents flying through the air. As I'm being thrown through the air, I take control of the fall and land on my feet, ready to attack the moment my feet touch the ground. I'm sent sliding across the ground before I slow to a stop.

My opponents are still disorientated from being hit with the shock wave and I take this moment to take control of the fight. I can feel the strain on my body as I move faster then I've ever moved before, stretching the limits of what I'm capable of. Without the use of hand signs I send a fire jutsu at the one unable to absorb chakra, hitting them and watching them burn before they can even respond.

The next one - the Path capable of absorbing chakra but lacking in speed - I'm sent into a ruthless close combat fight with, using my fast pace attacks to overwhelm them. Grabbing there arm with my left hand, I pull them forward and use the momentum to get behind them and stab my kunai through the spinal chord and straight into the brain.

My attention is briefly shifted to another one of the summoned beasts that has decided to charge towards me. Another pulse of chakra to my mangekyo activates amatarasu, quickly burning the beast. The continued use of my mangekyo during my fight makes my head pound, each wave of pain threatening to send me to my knees. Blood continues to pour out of my eyes, and I wipe as much of it away as I can. 

Turning towards my last opponent, I can feel the stress on my body causing my illness to flare up. My chakra is starting to feel thick and heavy, and I can feel tension building in my chest. It causes my movements to become slightly sluggish, allowing a black rod to pierce straight through my body, destroying one of my lungs and my heart. With my last moments of control, I continue forward, allowing all of the attacks headed at me hit me. Going straight for the final Paths neck with my kunai I severe his head from his body, finally killing my last opponent.

My whole body burns with pain as I collapse to the ground, unable to control my body any longer. My sharingan deactivates, leaving me staring at the blurred remnants of the destroyed village before my vision goes black.