Naruto: Path of Uchiha

Chapter 29: The Final Showdown

The five battalions, or rather what is left of it, now gather once again for the final showdown.

The amount of Shinobi present is less than when they started, having suffered five losses.

The five kages are also present for this occasion.

'First, we would like to thank you all for fighting bravely against the opponent. The villages will always remain in your debt', Obito, the Hokage, says, his voice full of gratitude.

'Next, we would like to mourn the Shinobi who have fallen in the battle. Their life and sacrifice will always be remembered', Mei, the Mizukage, says.

'Baki of sand, Yugito of the cloud, Akatsuchi and Roshi of stone, and lastly, Mangestsu from the mist', Onoki, the Tsuchikage, says.

Silence looms over the ground, all in respect for those who are no more.

'Now let's move onto the last phase of the war. We have to move as fast as possible to locate Orochimaru and kill him, who obviously will be unguarded after the loss of his army', A, the Raikage, says, crossing his arms.

'For this, we will move according to our plan. All of you will be divided into groups of two to locate the enemy. Upon finding Ororchimaru, the respective unit will send a signal by which the rest of the units will be alerted and get there for assistance as soon as possible', Gaara, the Kazekage, who looks tired after just having taken part in battle, says.

The units are then announced, and at the indication of the signal, all shinobi scatter in groups of two to hunt for the snake.
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Naruto's POV

I am paired up with none other than Jiraiya-sama for the scout.

'You fought against two kages in the war. Well done', he says as we jump from tree to tree.

'Yeah, thanks', I mumble.

'Nervous?', he asks, reading my face.

'Kind of. It's like I've waited for this moment my whole life', I reply, cracking my knuckles in the process.

'We have one in a ten chance of encountering him, so relax, kid', he says, patting my shoulder.

'Why do I feel like we will be the first to find him?'
'I have the same feeling',

It turns out my grudge was right.

After hours of locating, finding traces, and taking chances, we finally found Orochimaru.

'Oh! You are here earlier than expected! And it's you two! Get ready to get killed', Orochimaru says, his voice ending with a hiss.

'Naruto', Jiraiya-sama says.

I take it as an indication to fire the signal for assistance.

But before I manage to fire the smoke bomb, it gets knocked out of my hand, landing far across my reach.

'Did you think I wouldn't have assistance as well?'. the snake asks.

At his words, someone appears from the darkness.

'Meet your student Jiraiya! Nagato! Now known as Pain', Orochimaru hisses.

He's a man with red hair and purple eyes.

'Those are the rinnegan',
'The legendary eyes?'
'Mhm',

'Nagato?', Jiraiya-sama looks at the said man, he's the most shocked I have ever seen him.

But he quickly regains his composure.

'I will fight Nagato. You should take on Ororchimaru', Jiraiya-sama says, pulling himself out of the trance.

'Alright', I don't complain.

Both Jiraiya-sama and Nagato go over to have their own battle.

Meanwhile, I focus my attention on Orochimaru.

'Naruto! It will be a pleasure to kill you', he says.

'We will see who will get bestowed the pleasure', I say, then charge at him.

                                       ***

The fight begins with Naruto activating his red chakra.

Ororchimaru attempts to use his snakes to get a hold of Naruto, but the nine-tailed chakra ends up incinerating the snakes.

Realization dawns on Naruto. The only advantage Naruto has over Orochimaru is his chakra.

Naruto can win the battle if he holds it out long enough that Orochimaru's chakra runs out.

The chakra burns Orochimaru as well, so he uses his body replacement technique to regurgitate a new body out of his mouth.

Naruto makes a sound resembling a puke at the sight.

'This humor will be your end', Ororchimaru says, slightly offended.

Naruto doesn't bother to reply.

Retaining the bottom half of a snake, he slithers in a rapid manner towards Naruto and punches him in the face.

Naruto quickly recovers; he then used his claws to bisect Ororchimaru.

Ororchimaru is able to regenerate and reconnect both of his halves.

Ororchimaru attempts to finish Naruto off by spitting out one thousand snakes, each armed with a sword in their mouth.

However, Naruto successfully blocks it, making a chakra shield that disintegrates the snakes and sends Ororchimaru flying.

Naruto's plan for this battle is to hold out as much as possible. Therefore, he hesitates from using his higher chakra, demanding jutsus.

If he must, he will use them as a last resort.

Soon enough, the time to use them came. Orochimaru was still holding out and was refusing to give up.

Therefore, Naruto prepares himself to use the ultimate tailed beast technique—the tailed beast ball.

He fires the ball towards Ororchimaru. The Sanin tries to block it by summoning triple Rashomon, one of his highest defensive techniques.

But Ororchimaru's jutsu gets completely obliterated by the tailed beast bomb.

This cost a lot of Orochimaru's chakra. However, he still manages to stand.

As a last resort, Ororchimaru uses his sword of Kusamagi in an attempt to impale Naruto.

But before the sword could impale Naruto, he throws a marked kunai near Orochimaru, causing him to teleport where the latter stands.

By this, Naruto successfully dodges Ororchimaru's sword.

Orochimaru obviously didn't expect it.

'Ha! Your father's jutsu?', he asks.

But Naruto doesn't reply. Instead, he impales Ororchimaru's heart with a chakra draining kunai.

With only having so little chakra left, Orochimaru falls to the ground.

Naruto then strikes him with one more kunai, right beside the one he did before.

'This makes two kunai. One for my mother and one for my father. With this, I have officially avenged their deaths', Naruto says in such a deep voice that even he gets surprised by the low octave.

He then seals up the Sanin's in a body scroll and goes over to his next task of priority.

He makes his way to the smoke bomb and blasts it.

He doesn't wait for anyone to arrive. Instead, he goes over to where Jiraiya would be batting his former student.

The sight brings him to his knees. For there were no signs of the enemy, only the dead body of Jiraiya.

Naruto doesn't know how long he remained staring in one place.

He didn't even register someone coming for him, picking him up and taking him back. For he couldn't bear the loss of another loved one.

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Naruto's POV

I woke up with a stir, my eyes finding it difficult to adjust to the sudden burst of light.

I expected to be back at the village. Instead, I find myself in the same chamber where I was staying during the war.

I look over to my side, finding Obito Nii-san dozing off in a chair.

'Do you know what's happening?', I ask Kurama.
'No clue',

I begin to slowly get up, not wanting to wake him up.

But he heard me. 'Naruto', he says, rubbing his eyes.

'Hello?', I say, not knowing what to do.

Obito Nii-san abruptly gets up from his place and envelopes me in a hug.

I notice that my injuries have healed.

'Are you okay?' he asks, scanning me from head to toe.

'I am. Where are the rest?', I ask, not finding anyone else in the room.

'Wait, I will call for them', he says, scurrying out of the room.

Moments later, he enters with Kakashi Nii-san and Itachi Nii-san, followed by Tsunade-sama and Guy sensei.

All of them look sad. Especially Tsunade-sama.

Why do they look sad? I defeated Orochimaru; they should be happy.

'What's wrong?', I ask, confusion evident on my face.

'Naruto... Are you feeling alright enough to tell us what happened?', Kakashi Nii-san asks as he comes near me.

'What do you mean by what happened? I defeated Ororchimaru, right? He is dead, right?', I ask, still not understanding what they were implying.

'We know that, Naruto, and we are so proud of you for doing that. You did a great favor to the village', Obito Nii-san says, his eyes distant.

'Then what's wrong?' I ask once again.

'We are asking you about Jiraiya', Tsunade-sama says, a rare edge to her voice.

'What about him? Jiraiya-sama is-' I begin to say that he is alright.

But then memories flood my brain.

'Naruto', Kurama calls out, but I refuse to listen.

I suddenly find it difficult to breathe. My vision starts getting distorted. It feels like someone is strangling me.

Itachi Nii-san immediately comes to my side. 'Hey, breathe... slowly...in and out... Yeah, you're doing great'.

After what seems like an eternity, I finally catch my breath.

'You're crying', Guy sensei points out.

I am not, I wanted to say. But as my fingers touch my face, I realize I am.

'What happened... Naruto?', Tsunade-sama asks again.

I say nothing for a moment, then begin to say, 'We found Orochimaru's hideout. We encountered him. As I was about to fire the smoke bomb, it got tossed from my hand. Someone else came in; his name was Nagato. Orochimaru said he was a student of Jiraiya-sama', I paused.

Tsunade-sama appears to recognize that name.

'Then Jiraiya-sama told me to fight off Orochimaru while he goes against Nagato. I followed his instructions. After...after I defeated Ororchimaru and went back to him... He was...', I couldn't finish.

I felt numb. First, my parents. Then Ji-chan. Now my sensei.

It seems that everyone collectively released a sigh.

They then began to murmur amongst themselves. I felt drowsy, so I closed my eyes, and sleep ruled over me.

                                       ***

I was always a light sleeper. So through my sleep, I heard two distinct voices talking amongst themselves.

'We should have never brought him here', I recognized the voice to be Itachi Nii-san's.

'I didn't know all of this would happen', Obito Nii-san said.

'It was war. What did you expect?', Kakashi Nii-san snaps.

'He is too young. Only 15', Itachi Nii-san says.

'It's not good to eavesdrop',
'I knoww',

Not wanting to hear anymore, I get up, making a noise loud enough that they should notice.

Before they could say anything, I stopped them.

'I myself chose to be part of this war. I could have refused. Yes, I grieve for my sensei, but I will get over it soon enough. As a Shinobi, dealing with deaths is a given. So please don't say I should not have come. Please don't say that I am too young', I say, basically pleading.

When they don't say anything, I add, 'Did I not do enough?', my voice breaking.

'No', they all say in unison.

Huh?

Noticing the confusion on my face, they realize what they said.

'No, we mean. No, Naruto, you did great', Obito Nii-san says frantically, and the other two nod aggressively in response.

Oh, I got scared there for a second.

'You defeated Orochimaru. That's a great feat. Did you avenge your parents?', Kakashi Nii-san asks.

'I did', I say, a small smile on my face.

'Is Tsunade-sama mad at me?' the words slip out of my mouth.

'Not at all. She is just grieving', Itachi Nii-san declines my idea.

'Aren't you all going to hug me? What? Didn't you miss me enough?', I ask with a playful tone.

They all make their way towards me, huge smiles on their faces, and embrace me with all their might.
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