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Chap-65 The Final Choice
🕑 Added 2022-03-18 15:22:45 +0000 UTCKaksahi roughly crashed on the battlefield coughing blood, and as he tried to regain his bearings he saw his comrades viciously trying to keep the Otsutsuki horde at bay. Nearly half of their troops had perished in the melee courtesy of the Gentle Fist of the Otsutsuki but for every ninja or Samurai that was killed, the Otsutsuki lost 10 of their own including a few of their own clansmen.
He roughly tried to get back up only to quickly bring his tanto forward in order to cleave off the heads of the two dead thralls that tried to jump over him.
Chaos.
It was visible all over the battlefield as the two sides butchered each other. His own Dog summon had fought valiantly, killing hundreds of Otsutsuki thralls before it was struck down by bloodthirsty Kaguya.
The same madmen who were now charging towards him.
Kakashi glanced at his limp left arm knowing it was not just broken but most of the chakra points had been sealed off courtesy of an Otsutsuki warrior, in return Kakashi had stabbed the woman in the throat.
His chest felt heavy, thankfully his body armor had blocked the worst of the damage one of the Otsutsuki had tried to inflict on him. It had saved his heart from exploding outright but could not stop the fracturing of atleast three of his ribs. He was bleeding internally and his chakra was running low.
Yet he charged at his enemies with nothing but courage in his heart. Ducking a strike aimed at his neck, he blocked another sword aimed at his chest before twisting himself around his first opponent only to stab the man in the balls. The Kaguya screamed but was quickly silenced with a merciless lightning strike that fried his brain. His partner brought down a vertical slash at Kakashi which the Hatake barely blocked. So powerful was the blow that it brought Kakashi to his knees, his enemy kicked him right in the throat.
Kakashi gasped.
The chakra powered kick damaged his neck muscles and he struggled to breath even as he crashed back on the bloodied ground. His vision was getting hazy as panic set in, he could barely hear his laughing enemy approaching towards him.
The Kaguya stepped before him, his sword raised high in the air. Kakashi closed his eyes knowing he had done his duty towards his king as best as he could. But the blow never came, he gingerly opened his eyes to see a sword lodged right through the Kaguya's mouth from the back. As the enemy ninja crumbled, Danzo swarmed in Kakashi's vision and the Shimura heir quickly offered his hand which Kakashi accepted as he was hauled back up to his feet.
"Can you still fight?" asked Danzo, even as he battled away two dead thralls with his sword in one reflexive strike.
"Do...I...have...a...choice?" croaked Kakashi, gods did his throat hurt!
Danzo gave a grim smile just as his summon Baku came charging towards them. The gigantic beast crushed dozens of enemies in its path before standing before Kakashi and its master. Danzo quickly jumped atop the beast and glanced at Kakashi.
They both saw Hanzo and his paltry force getting hammered from all fronts. The dead were literally throwing themselves at the Salamander summon forcing the beast back, already it was badly injured and its master was busy facing off against four Otsutsuki. The men around him doing all they could to stop the unending tide. If that flank collapsed, the enemy would have a clear path towards the barrier holding the tailed beasts.
"This is madness" whispered a kunoichi,
Kakashi could not help but accept his fellow comrade's assessment. Hanzo's flank was about to collapse and while Danzo's summon had forced the enemy on the left flank to retreat they would be back again and this time the ninjas just didn't have the numbers to hold them off.
"We have to crush the enemy's right flank!"
Nearly every last survivor gasped in disbelief on hearing Danzo's command, just one glance at the Shimura showed he was not joking.
"Don't you see how many of them are there, Captain?" asked a shocked Sand ninja,
"Doesn't matter. If even one flank collapses we are finished. If the enemy reaches the barrier, all of this would have been for nothing" barked Danzo furiously,
"How the fuck do you plan on breaking through them?" questioned another furious Senju,
"ALONE IF I HAVE TO!"
Danzo's summon roared without warning as the Shimura heir dashed towards Hanzo's flank. Kakashi cursed and looked at the stunned warriors around him.
"I'll hold this flank! Support him and we might just survive a bit longer...stand there like cowards and we shall all die screaming!" roared Kakashi,
That snapped them out of their trance and Kakashi was relieved on seeing Danzo tearing through dozens of enemy lines with the help of his summon. A moment later, a small force of 30 ninjas dashed after him while Kakashi steeled himself with the few fighters he still had as the enemy on his flank charged again.
He grinned when Danzo's summon roared a wave of fire obliterating hundreds of enemy forces in one breath. Before he could relish in the small victory, Kakashi froze.
A monstrous snake jumped from beneath the ground and swallowed Danzo whole.
"CAPTAIN DANZO!"
The men following the Shimura heir felt their worst nightmare coming true.
The snake was still crashing towards the ground after swallowing its prey when its body was torn apart in a blast of flesh and blood. A one armed Danzo covered in red jumped and landed on his still charging Baku summon.
"CHARGE!"
Kakashi had always known the Shimura clan were vicious warriors but to see Danzo never lose focus and still lead his men into enemy ranks after that shook him.
The men following Danzo also shared those inspiring thoughts as they roared after their commander and fell upon the enemy forces near Hanzo's flank in a flurry of weapons and jutsu. Danzo effectively used his monstrous summon to scatter and stomp enemy forces creating panic among their ranks while his force immediately attacked the Otsutsuki surrounding Hanzo and the dead hounding the Salamander summon.
It was one of the most maddening attacks Kakashi had ever seen in his short life.
While that flank was now slowly becoming steady, Kakashi grimaced as he saw the sheer number of enemy about to fall upon his flank. He doubted he could stop them but it was that or to give up and die.
The men and women around him gulped nervously as the enemy got closer.
They grouped together waiting for the massive wall of enemies to slam into them only to be surprised when a wave of fire rained down upon the enemy's vanguard. Surprised, Kakashi looked a few feet above him and saw a large space dimension portal coming to life.
The first three people that came charging outside were all dressed in armor and bore the roaring sigil of the three headed dragon.
And they were not alone.
Mifune of the Samurai jumped outside the portal and was followed by hundreds upon hundreds of clone forces. For the men defending the barrier, it was a miracle from the gods itself as nearly 2000 clone forces lead by the Kingsguard and Mifune arrived to their aid.
The nearest enemies could only scream in terror as they were set on fire.
Shisui and Itachi together confronted one of the Otsutsuki commanders and drove their swords in the man's head and heart thereby ending his life.
Mikoto and Mifune fell upon the enemy forces with their clone army at their backs.
Kakashi collapsed in relief and saw Shisui glancing at him from afar.
"Thank you" he whispered, echoing the thoughts of his own followers.
To his dismay, Shisui and Itachi had grim looks on their faces as they prepared themselves to crush the remaining few thousand enemy forces.
"It was the King"
That was all they answered before leaping into the fray and for the first time Kakashi felt hope bubble in his chest as the enemy forces started to get decimated under the skillful command of the Kingsguard.
But if they were here with such a large clone force, then their king was all alone against the bulk of the enemy army and their queen.
Kakashi could only hope Naruto had a few thousands clones under his command for fighting against them all would be problematic, to say the least.
But he had to have faith in his king and with that determination, Kakashi again leapt into the battle.
The light.
Gods, what light it was.
For several long and painful minutes, it had felt like a star had suddenly died and filled the world one last time with its illumination.
When its shine finally subsided, a surprising sight awaited every surviving soul on the beach of the Land of Water.
For the Otsutsuki queen, it was a landscape of horror. Nearly half of her forces had been charred to ashes and the remaining were desperately scratching at their eyes as if blinded. Even the dead were screaming in pain which was rarely seen.
Most importantly, the ninja forces around the king were gone.
She extended her senses and found them emerging on the other battlefield where the allied forces were trying to detonate a massive Biju bomb.
Her opponent stood before her in all his glory, his Susanoo still stood tall and strong. But it was his eye...
The Byakugan of hers clearly saw his chakra reserves plummeting at a rapid level, his eye was crying rivers of blood and she could see his body muscles tearing themselves apart to maintain that beastly Susanoo of his.
She grinned.
She had no need of defeating him, she just had to outlast him in battle before he eventually dropped dead with chakra exhaustion. At his current rate it wouldn't take more than ten minutes at best, in her eyes it was still a miracle he was still standing.
If she had to guess, his vision was deteriorating quite rapidly judging from the slight twitch of his eye.
"You're a fool. You might have given your men a few more moments to live but it shall be your doom" she declared, her fist clenched making the Kyuubi scream as it was yanked on all four as she stepped on its head.
"That's the difference between us, I guess. When you choose to lead, you are responsible for the lives of those who follow you. As King, they are all my children and it is my duty to look after them. It is my job to worry about their lives...if only you had understood this then this war wouldn't have happened. The threat of your clan returning to earth might be real and you would be surprised how humanity would have rallied behind you, only if you had tried a different approach" lamented Naruto, earning a mocking laugh from her.
"As if the opinion of squabbling humans matters. Your race has never seen the bigger picture, your kind is just a step above monkeys. Even those creatures are better for they know their betters. And like the rest of your race, you too shall die" said Hinata fiercely,
The King cursed as dozens of wooden tendrils sprouted from the ground and started wrapping themselves around the legs of his Susanoo. Many were burning away due to the sheer chakra they were clashing against, but many more were strangling themselves around the legs.
Naruto raised the glowing form of Dawn ready to slash them away when he felt that violent pull.
He could only gasp in surprise when his entire Susanoo was yanked from the ground and sent flying towards Hinata. He flinched on seeing Kurama being forced to form a Bijudama. His lone Mangekyo could already predict the seconds before that bomb would hit his Susanoo and unlike his opponent, he couldn't absorb chakra.
With a furious roar, he fought against the power pulling him and managed to make his Susanoo flap its monstrous wings thereby taking a timely leap into the air and barely able to dodge the Bijudama which sailed right past him, tearing across the beach and detonating into the interior of the Land of Water with a mighty roar.
He flipped down in the air making his monstrous Susanoo bring the power of Dawn right above the Kyuubi's head. His friend would understand why he had to fight against him.
Hang in there, Kurama. This will all be over soon enough.
Naruto was again surprised as his regal sword met a layer of bone instead of Kurama's head. Looking around, he saw Hinata consuming large quantities of chakra from the beast and covering it with a full blown human skeleton made of powerful bones alone. It encased the fox in a protective manner as it sprouted several bony hands from all over its hideous form.
Bone Release. Just like Kimimaro.
Mad laughter echoed across the battlefield as the full power of the Otsutsuki queen erupted.
The Kyuubi lashed out with all nine of his tails at once forcing Naruto to conjure a shield of black flames in his Susanoo's only free hand. The two opponents met in a fierce clash.
The King made his dragon headed Susanoo unleash scorching flames towards three of the Kyuubi's tail while he swatted away another three with the help of Dawn. With his shield, he blocked the last three if barely.
The fox roared in agony as several of its tales were set on fire.
Naruto flinched on hearing his friend's pain and that slight hesitation costed him as dozens of bony hands descended upon his Susanoo. He managed to block a few at the last moment, but three of them breached his inner defense and struck at his Susanoo's armored chest.
CRACK
He vomited blood and felt the sickening sound of his chest muscles being torn. The Susanoo lost a layer of its armor and to Naruto's horror he realized he couldn't replenish it as aggressive chakra of the Otsutsuki queen had festered the impacted area. Her energy was now slowly seeping across his Susanoo, consuming it like a hungry beast.
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
He was sent crashing across the ocean by the Rinnegan's power and before he could even process his new injuries, he saw a rain falling from the skies.
"Bone Release: Thousand Slashes!"
Naruto hastily brought up his shield as monstrous bone fragments rained down upon him. The bone armored Kyuubi charged at him forming up another one of those lethal Bijudama.
He dodged the attack and summoned Kamui around Kurama's legs. He closed his eyes as his friend screamed for his legs were torn off sending him crashing to the ground. Naruto charged forward with the help of his wings intending to settle this quickly but his hopes were dashed when the skeleton warrior covering his friend pointed several of its bony hands forward.
"Chakra Receivers!"
Thousands of black chakra rods were unleashed towards the king, having already seen the mighty kyuubi be defeated and subdued by these rods was all the proof Naruto needed to stay away from every single one of these rods.
But for all her power and talent, his enemy had made a critical mistake out of ignorance or arrogance.
They had allowed him to choose his battlefield.
Naruto raised a single finger.
"Water Release: Water Wave"
A small tsunami arose from the massive ocean tearing through the entire volley of black chakra rods but the attack didn't stop there as the King made another hand seal.
"Water Release: Ten Thousand Bullets!"
The ocean itself answered his call as the very air and sea around them transformed into an army of water bullets before suddenly attacking the bone armored kyuubi from every direction.
"Hakkesho!"
To everyone surprise, the monstrous creature rotated at rapid speed with its bony hands expelling a wave of chakra in all directions battling away the assault of an army of water bullets. It left the beast open for Naruto's next attack...
"Water Release: World of Whirlpools!"
Hinata cursed as the ocean beneath her feet transformed into a raging whirlpool that instantly swallowed half of her bone warrior alongwith the Kyuubi. It would seem her opponent's prowess with Water Release was not exaggerated, after all.
She was forced to continuously defend herself as not just water bullets but large water dragons also rose from the sea hitting her on every side. All the while the very ocean started to swallow her monster inch by inch.
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
She grinned when her attack tore away every jutsu attacking her and just in time as the Susanoo appeared behind her. With a mighty roar, she forced the Kyuubi to use its tails to strike his own friend down.
Naruto blocked two of the tails with the flat of his sword, batted another four away with his Amaterasu shield before twisting the Susanoo around to stab his heavenly sword through the groin of the bone covered warrior and the Kyuubi.
He was disappointed when an entire layer of bones surrounded the spot where his sword connected and he was barely able to make a hole a few feet wide.
He realized his mistake when he sensed the chakra explosion.
The Susanoo retreated backwards as an army of bone shards exploded at it in point blank range. Naruto quickly summoned Kamui and absorbed all the projectiles before they did any lasting damage.
He panted harshly, gods how long had it been? To him it already felt as if an entire hour had passed when in truth it had barely been three minutes. He now bitterly realized as to how someone like Hashirama could have lost against Hinata Otsutsuki.
She had too much power in that body of hers and combine that with her twin dojutsu...she was a force of death itself.
She grinned as she created several bone swords and commanded not just her creature's bone hands but also everyone of the Kyuubi's tails to take up each of them. A savage grin graced her lips as she eyed Naruto with a murderous grin plastered on her beautiful lips.
He transformed his Amaterasu shield into a dark flaming sword and raised Dawn in his right arm.
They met with another thunderous clash.
His twin swords zoomed forward cutting through air and two of the bone warrior's hands. Hinata had seen the attack coming with the help of her Byakugan but had not been fast enough to stop it. For a Susanoo of this size, it was dangerously fast.
She willed her remaining swords to attack him from three sides: Up, Left and Right.
What happened next left her speechless.
The flaming dark sword twirled into the Susanoo's hands at lightning speed cracking away each and everyone of the bone hands and its bone swords. On the other hand, Dawn did the same before the swords were forced to come together in a defensive formation as the Biju clashed its tails against them once more. Again breaking the attack, the Susanoo delivered a crushing kick towards bone warrior's chest sending it crashing away.
Hinata was barely able to raise her remaining two swords, both of which were destroyed courtesy of Dawn and the Amaterasu sword. Her scream echoed across the battlefield as the two holy swords buried themselves clean through the bone warrior's groin.
It had been a mistake to challenge him in a Clash of Swords, he was too fast and too strong with the blades for her liking.
His Susanoo opened its mouth and the dragon inside launched a fiery volley of flames.
She grinned as she easily absorbed the attack and seized the opening she had been waiting for.
While, it might have been folly to challenge him in swordplay, it had brought his Susanoo right inside her close range.
"Two Palms!"
Naruto grunted when two bony palms connected with his Susanoo's left hand making him lose control over his flaming dark sword. The sword flickered and was soon extinguished as Hinata descended upon him.
"Four Palms!"
"Eight Palms!"
"Sixteen Palms!"
"Thirty Two Palms!"
"Sixty Four Palms!"
The strikes came one after another, more painful than the one before as it rapidly inflicted poisonous chakra across his Susanoo while destroying his control over the monstrous form little by little.
"Divine Slash!"
Hinata and her bone warrior clad Kyuubi were sent crashing away as Dawn delivered a horizontal slash that teared itself through the bone warrior's chest cleanly.
Naruto coughed even more blood this time as he collapsed to one knee, the effects of his enemies strikes were now taking their toll over his body as he felt her chakra invading his system and fight to establish dominance. He fought her inside his body just as viciously as he did against her out on the battlefield.
But it was a losing battle.
She was just too strong.
His chakra reserves were dwindling and his entire body ached with pain in order to maintain the Susanoo. All these years, he had survived on numerous battlefields not just because of his skills but because he knew whom to fight and whom not to.
To his shame, this opponent was far stronger than him.
Maybe with Madara and Hashirama's help he could have put her down, but alone it was an uphill task. Nonetheless, he knew he had made a promise to his friends and comrades.
He had to kill this woman.
The third and final choice.
He paused as Priestess's Shizuka's prophecy about him came back to haunt him. She had foreseen three instances in his life when his decisions would necessarily change his and the world's destiny at large.
The first was the night when he had to violently put down those Uchiha rebels led by his own grand-uncle. It earned him the name Kinslayer and unbearable scorn from his own people, but it kept the Uchiha clan united.
The second was the moment when he had to give up his quest of vengeance against the Senjus and ally with them for the sake of peace. He married a Senju, became a king and lead mankind through one of its most darkest wars.
And now it was time for the final choice.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw the remaining 20,000 something enemy forces encircling him from all sides across the ocean. While the bone armored Kyuubi stepped forward.
He saw the silent pleading in his trapped friend's eyes knowing that staying here to fight would only end in one outcome.
"Last chance, Uchiha Naruto. Surrender and live... Refuse and die" challenged Hinata,
For a cursed moment, he wanted to take her offer. All these years he had fought battle after battle, earned love and hatred but never found the peace he so desperately wanted.
"I can't defeat her, can I?" he asked outloud to himself, and saw the forms of Indra's lingering soul alongside many of his former ancestors appear around him.
Even saying those bitter words hurt because it meant he had failed.
But it was the truth.
"No, you cannot" admitted Indra,
It was like the final blow that made the young king collapse to his knees on top of his dragon's head. The weight of the entire war and all that was lost finally crushing him altogether.
The ghosts of his ancestors watched over him as he fought back the lump in his throat and the burning in his lone eye.
"All...this...time...I...kept...on...fighting...in...the...hopes...of...finding...the...peace...I...always...wanted. There were so many times when I felt death would be so much better...and yet here I am, this close to my dreams only to never see them getting fulfilled" lamented Naruto,
Some part of his heart wanted to go back home and spend his remaining days with Tsunade. He wanted to protect his daughters and teach his son all he knew.
He wanted to see his brother and father.
Madara.
A faint wistful smile came upon his lips as he thought about the few battles they both had fought alongside each other. Of all the times Madara had stood by him when everyone else hadn't. If only...
"I wish I can see them all again" he whispered remorsefully,
"The choice is still yours to make, Naruto. We are the past and you are the present. You can always write your own history" advised one of the other Uchiha kindly,
Naruto went silent for several long moments before his voice barely above a whisper was heard by Indra.
"Can you seem them?" asked the young king,
At first, the Uchiha patriarch couldn't see what the boy was hinting at until one by one the forms started to take shape. A few at first, then a dozen, followed by hundreds and finally thousands upon thousands more. All with haunting looks surrounding the lonely king from every side. Their sorrowful eyes staring upon the young boy.
Naruto suppressed his tears on seeing so many familiar faces around him.
People that should be alive but now stared at him with their ghostly faces.
Naori, Takeshi, Kagami, Tobirama, Itama, and the thousands of warriors of both shinobi and civilian birth who died fighting for him.
His comrades.
He looked back at Indra and his other ancestors who could also see what he was seeing.
"They are watching me. They want to see the objective they gave their lives for to be fulfilled, they want justice from their king" whispered Naruto, now that he said those words he could feel the burden fully resting on his shoulders.
For them, the war was not yet over.
When he closed his eyes, he saw Tsunade more beautiful than ever cradling a small bundle in her arms. She smiled at him as two little girls arrived by her side. Both had pale skin like him, their eyes dark like their ancestors, their hair black and brown respectively.
They all smiled at him and extended their hands towards him, even that tiny infant with a happy gurgle.
He felt his heart shatter.
He opened his eye and saw Indra kneeling in front of him.
"It was all a dream, wasn't it? A wishful illusion...nothing more" whispered Naruto, his voice brimming with sorrow and defeat.
He felt someone lay a firm but comfortable hand on his shoulder and on looking up he saw Indra staring at him with nothing but pride and determination.
"You have fought well, my child. You have brought honor and glory to our clan, united the world when no one else could, it's only because of you that mankind is still standing. I know it hurts, I who watched my own children be torn apart again and again for centuries, to have my hopes and dreams be crushed again and again until you came along. I know what your dream means to you and we all shall support whatever choice you make. But you already know what needs to be done here" advised Indra kindly with a pained smile,
He received a hesitant nod from the young monarch as Indra helped the boy to get back on his feet.
They both saw the world covered in darkness with heavy clouds weeping from the skies. Naruto looked back at Indra and saw his ancestor give him a pained but determined look.
"Bring hope back into this world" whispered all his ancestors,
Indra looked deep into his eyes revealing his final and ultimate choice.
"Give up on your dreams and...die"
It didn't break his heart unlike he feared before.
Instead, he felt a strange acceptance seep into his heart as he realized some part of his soul always knew that this could possibly be his destiny. Or maybe he was desperately trying to find some meaning where there was none.
It didn't matter.
Death was a part of every shinobi's life.
He glanced across the battlefield where the sea was raging, the clouds were thundering, the enemy army surrounding him and getting closer, the enemy queen still waiting for him on top of her monster.
There was nobody there.
Not his friends, not his family, not his comrades, not his wife or children.
Just him.
He looked at the heavens again hoping to see the visage of Izuna one more time, but his beloved brother was not there as well. In these godforsaken lands, he was all alone far from home and away from everyone he had loved or cared for.
So, this is where I die.
He closed his eye allowing the pain and sorrow to overwhelm him. He watched each and everyone of his dreams be destroyed inside of him and it was the most agonizing pain he had ever experienced in his life.
From acceptance came pain.
From pain came anger.
From anger came hatred.
From hatred came power.
Tears of blood fell from his eye as the very sea around him started to boil, the air started to roar, the land started to tremble and the skies screamed.
He opened his eye to save the world.
To awaken the power of salvation.
