The Angel's Ambivalence [Naruto]

The Fourth Great Shinobi War

"Every villian is a hero in their own mind."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After receiving the Raikage's approval, Naruto, Scarlett, Bee, and I quickly continued on our way. We had yet to encounter any fellow shinobi. The land in front of us seemed to go on forever. The ground was mostly flat, although it had countless rock formations scattered along it. In the distance were low mountains.

Scarlett used this time to catch us all up on what we'd missed. Ryuu had kept her informed on the situation with the war, and she provided us with as much information as she could. She was a little out of the loop now, since she hadn't spoken to Ryuu since he left the island, but what she told us would be useful for when we encountered enemies, which would no doubt be very, very soon.

Apparently, Kabuto and Madara had forged some kind of alliance. It was Kabuto who had created an army of the dead using Edotensei, a forbidden jutsu created by the Second Hokage and perfected by Orochimaru. Dozens of extraordinary shinobi had been resurrected and been forced to fight on the side of the Akatsuki. Madara apparently had Zetsus all over the place, which was just annoying. Could he just not continue trying to take over the world? Seriously, why couldn't his lifetime goal be owning a cat or something? Why did it have to be world domination?

Minxie, listen. My eyes widened at the voice. I recognized its owner as Shikamaru's dad, Shikaku. However, that didn't make me any less confused. How the hell was he talking to me? I glanced over at the others, and they all mirrored my puzzled expression, signaling that Shikaku had probably called their names as well.

I'm speaking telepathically to all of you. I've got intel on the enemy battle strategy, Shikaku continued. It was really weird having his voice in my head, but I listened to him, anyway. His information would no doubt be of great value. Madara has sent white Zetsus into the fray. These Zetsus can absorb the chakra of our troops and use it to impersonate them. They've infiltrated our camps and are thinning out our ranks as we speak. The medical team has reported that they're actually clones created from the First Hokage's cells.

"So that's what's up with all these fuzzy things I'm sensing!" Naruto announced. "We gotta go take them down, right!?"

Yes. You, Naruto, are essential to this task, since you can sense negative emotions and harmful intent in your new chakra mode. Now that you've joined the battle, we can take some strain off of Ryuu, Shikaku said.

"Ryuu?" I repeated, eagerly attaching onto the mention of my brother. "Is he okay?"

He's hanging in there, He answered. That wasn't exactly a positive answer, but considering we were at war, it was the best I could hope for. Ryuu has been using his kekkei genkai to take down Zetsus from the air, but he's only one person. He can't possibly locate them all and take them down by himself. Minxie, you have the same kekkei genkai as he does. Use your Heart's Eyes, and you should be able to pick out the Zetsus from the rest by seeing the darkness in their intent. That's what Ryuu has been doing.

"We'll be there soon," I assured. "Tell Ryuu he won't have to overexert his eyes any longer."