Chapter 34- Three Against One!!!

Chapter 34

The conversation with Sasuke had been heavy, bringing up old memories he had put away years ago. With that, he found himself visiting the Uchiha cemetery every night as he tried to cling to the days that were threatening to blur away.

Sasuke met him there a few nights later while he was offering his prayers. The boy’s frustrations and internal conflict seemed to ooze off him as Gojo raised a brow.

“So, you have made your decision?” Gojo asked, and Sasuke answered back with a question of his own.

“Why couldn’t you stop it?” Sasuke asked, and that was one of Gojo’s greatest regrets.

“Contrary to what you may believe, I was not actually born with these eyes,” Gojo answered.

“These were a gift from Hana. A parting gift she left for me.” Sasuke had not known that.

“I have long had a troubled relationship with the village and its higher-ups because of various circumstances, and so they had me stationed along the northern border to keep me away from the village.” Sasuke’s expression shifted as he realized what that meant.

“You weren’t here,” Sasuke added.

“The mission began just after the Hyuga incident, and while I was strong, I had been given the impossible task of curtailing all of Kumo’s efforts with a team of only ten men.” Sasuke saw this for what it was.

“They gave you a suicide mission.” Gojo nodded.

“I fought there for more than five years, often outnumbered. Often alone. Yet in that time, no Kumo-nin was able to break through the border.” Sasuke could not believe his ears.

“Shisui wrote to me about the deteriorating situation, and I wrote to the higher-ups and demanded to be relieved of my duties, yet they refused. So, I made a decision and walked into Kumo all by myself and slaughtered the entire force stationed there in two days.” Sasuke’s eyes widened at that.

“After that, I ran back to the village, hoping that I would be back in time to make a difference.” His fists balled up again.

“But I was too late. Too damn late...”

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SASUKE UCHIHA

Sasuke’s world came apart in that moment. He couldn’t move or respond as the weight of that sentence settled over him.

“You are lying,” he finally said.

No. This couldn’t be happening. NO!

“Itachi can’t die yet. He can’t. He owes me that!” Sasuke screamed at the reincarnated nin, whose eyes fell on him.

“I have no reason to lie to you, Sasuke,” the ghost of Shisui continued as Sasuke felt his legs grow weak.

“Orochimaru was better prepared for the attack than the Akatsuki anticipated. He used Edo Tensei to bring back several of the Kage, and the battle would have ended with that if it had not been for Itachi.” It did not matter.

“No.” Sasuke refused to accept this.

“He used the Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror to seal the revived Kage, and just as the two sides were approaching a stalemate, Orochimaru used my Kotoamatsukami to gain control of the Akatsuki’s leader.” It was Lady Tsunade who cut in.

“So, Orochimaru’s controlling Pain?” she asked.

“Pain is not the true leader of the organization. He is a figurehead propped up by its true founder,” Shisui answered the blonde as Sasuke fell to his knees.

“He is the masked ninja who instigated the Kyubi attack and the Uchiha massacre. A shinobi who goes by the name of Madara Uchiha.” That name silenced them all.

“Madara,” Jiraiya-sama gasped.

“Is it really Madara?” he asked, and Shisui shook his head.

“According to Itachi, no.” Now it was Sakura who spoke up.

“How did you break free from Orochimaru’s control?” she asked.

“Before my death, I passed one of my eyes to Itachi so that he could make use of the power that was too great a burden for me. Itachi used that very eye to release me from Orochimaru’s control, but by then he was too weak to join me in the escape. He faced the enemy all alone and bought me time so that I could come to the village and deliver the warning.” Then he looked towards Sasuke.

“Why? Why would he do this?” Sasuke asked as a tear of blood dripped down his face.

“Why would he do something like this?” he asked.

“Perhaps he is the only one who can answer you.” With that, Shisui Uchiha walked forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Look into my eye, Sasuke...” Just as he did that, the world vanished, and Sasuke found himself staring at his brother.

“Itachi?” His brother turned towards him.

“It has been some time, little brother.” Sasuke looked around and saw nothing but water and an endless horizon.

“How?” Sasuke asked.

“I know that I promised to give you answers, but when I realized that I wouldn’t be able to keep that promise, I created this intricate genjutsu and implanted it into Shisui’s eye.” And so this was a genjutsu.

“I am sorry for breaking my promise to you, but you deserve to face me, and so here I am...”

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GOJO HATAKE

Gojo gritted his teeth as he stared at Obito and Hashirama blocking his way. Orochimaru landed behind Nagato, who was struggling to breathe. Gojo could feel that something was wrong with Obito’s chakra as well, for the man had no reason to ally with the Snake Sannin.

“What have you done?” Gojo asked as Orochimaru smiled.

“It seems like I was right to fear you and your powers, Hatake Gojo. Even against the might of the Rinnegan, you refuse to bow down.” Then he turned towards Nagato.

“It was my hope that the two of you would kill each other. It would certainly have made my life a lot easier. But no matter.” Then he reached for Nagato’s face.

“I assure you I will make much better use of these eyes than you.” Gojo raised his hand as he aimed a quick strike at Orochimaru.

“Hanten: Aka.” A red orb shot forward, but before it could hit Orochimaru, Obito stepped forward and swallowed it up, much to Gojo’s frustration.

“Do you really think I will let you have those eyes?” Gojo taunted as he gathered up his chakra and healed himself.

“Oh, I know that you won’t. You have coveted these eyes for years now, but for what? So that you can bring back your old lover?” Orochimaru rolled his eyes at him.

“You would use the power of the Sage of the Six Paths for something as trivial as love.” Gojo drew in a breath.

“Who are you to call my love trivial?” This was going to be a battle to the death. So, he cracked his neck as he prepared himself for the fight.

“I defeated Pain. What makes you think I can’t defeat you?” Gojo challenged.

“Pain fought alone,” Orochimaru answered as he reached for his own eye socket and pulled the eye out, replacing it with one of Nagato’s Rinnegan.

“I shall fight you with the Shodaime and the second coming of Madara himself, though I fear both of us know the truth about the man hiding underneath that mask.” And that was true.

“How did you even get him to join you?”

“You can’t sense it?” Orochimaru laughed as he put in the second eye as well, and Gojo frowned as he focused on Obito once again.

“This is your friend’s work.” Now he recognized that strange chakra signature coming from Obito.

“Shisui,” he gasped as it all clicked together.

“Indeed, though your friend remains as big a thorn in my side as you. He was able to escape my control and must be warning the village about the army headed its way as we speak.” Gojo closed his eyes and expanded his senses. Orochimaru was right. He could sense Shisui’s chakra signature once more.

“No matter. You will get no help from the village because they will be too busy fighting my army.” Orochimaru offered him a predatory grin.

“Who said anything about needing reinforcements?” Gojo challenged. Orochimaru laughed and closed his eyes, and Gojo could feel him healing the chakra network around his new eyes.

“I have been waiting to put you in the ground for a pretty long time,” Gojo added. This was his chance to end this once and for all.

“It’s finally time for me to finish you off.” With that, he felt the air shift as Orochimaru opened his eyes, revealing his newly acquired Rinnegan.

“Don’t you understand this, Gojo? This is no longer a one-on-one fight. It’s three of us against one of you.” That was true, and slowly Gojo rose into the air as he looked Orochimaru dead in the eye.

“Three against one, huh...” Then he brought his hands together.

“Kyoshiki Murasaki...” Slowly, a massive purple orb formed in his hands, and its power began to shake the very foundation of the cave itself as Gojo scoffed.

“...even with these odds, there is no way in hell that I am going to lose.”

“...Explosion!”

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Back in Konoha, Jiraiya landed on the northern border along with Tsunade and the most elite shinobi in their village.

Asuma. Kurenai. Kakashi. Naruto. Sakura. Ino. Along with nearly a hundred more nin, they stood behind him and Tsunade as they stared at the approaching horde.

“He was not exaggerating,” Tsunade gasped.

The entire horizon was filled with the approaching army.

“Of course he was not,” Jiraiya answered, and the troubling part was that their enemies were not even flesh and blood. They were soulless, mindless creatures created by Orochimaru.

“To think that Gojo faced an even greater army all on his own and won,” Kakashi added as he shook his head in disbelief, and Jiraiya could sympathize with that notion.

“Well, let’s not disappoint him then,” Jiraiya ordered as he brought his hands together. Soon enough, the world shifted around him as red markings appeared around his eyes.

“Gojo entrusted us with keeping the village safe. So, we had better not disappoint him.” Then he bit into his thumb as everyone around him prepared themselves for the battle ahead.

“Sakura. You are with me. We will create a healing circle, a place where the men can retreat and recover,” Tsunade added as she jumped forward while the pink-haired kunoichi followed after her.

“Yes, Lady Tsunade,” Sakura answered. Asuma Sarutobi lit up his cigarette while the red-eyed kunoichi beside him rolled her eyes.

“Let’s light ’em up.” Jiraiya saw chakra coat Asuma’s blades as Kakashi pushed up his headband to reveal the Sharingan hidden underneath it.

“Well, I am called the man who has copied over a thousand jutsus. So, you can leave at least a thousand of them to me.” Naruto smiled as he crossed his fingers.

“Yeah. Same here. A thousand of them is nothing for me.” With those words, a hundred shadow clones appeared behind him as Naruto geared up to fight.

“Well, I can’t let the youngsters have all the fun now, can I?” With that, Jiraiya jumped ahead, and the ground cracked under his feet as he flew into the air until he was right above the vanguard of the enemy forces.

“Ninpo...” he roared as he lowered his hand.

“...Grand Summoning Jutsu!”

With those words, three massive beings appeared and came crashing down, crushing several dozen of the mindless creatures as Jiraiya himself landed on top of his old companion’s head.

“Finally. It has been some time since you called us into battle, Jiraiya,” Gamabunta complained.

“Well then, today let me make up for that...”

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