Chapter 35-Choices!

Chapter 35

The visit to the cemetery brought back old memories and with those memories his vistis grew more and more frequent. A year into his stint as the Hokage, he had reworked a major portion of the village’s bureaucracy and had shifted much of the burden away from the Hokage’s office.

Councils and advisory units had been set up to oversee the academy and a whole other department now oversaw mission delegation and reports. The Hokage was still the chair for all these bodies and carried a veto power over any decisions but he had not yet felt the need to excercise that power even once.

“I haven’t forgotten my promise,” he reminded even though he was answered with silence only.

“I know I am making a habit of being late,” and he chuckled at those words, even though the admission tore open gruesome wounds.

“But, I will bring you back...” he spoke somberly as he touched the cold stone.

“...or die trying.”

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GOJO HATAKE

Gojo Hatake jumped into the sky as he avoided the massive forest erupting out of the ground, trying to swallow him whole. His chakra reserves were drying up fast, but he had no intention of backing down.

He had to end this now.

He had to.

The Shodaime noticed him flying up into the sky, and suddenly trees shot up towards him, yet none of them could pierce through the invisible shield protecting him. The wooden projectiles splintered as soon as they came in contact with his ‘Infinity’ shield, and so he hovered in the sky as he aimed his fingers at the person responsible for this.

“Aka...” and a red orb shot out of his hand, straight towards Orochimaru, but the Shodaime jumped towards him at once to protect him from the attack, for the Snake Sanin was still trying to acclimate himself to the doujutsu he had just obtained for himself.

But before he could take advantage of the Shodaime’s intervention, Obito Uchiha appeared above him, and swung his gunbai down at him. Gojo expected his shield to hold up, but the hoodwinked Uchiha placed a hand on the technique and used his kamui to absorb a portion of the shield, allowing him to land a strike at him.

“GUGH!”

Gojo could not get his guard up in time, and he crashed into the ground hard from the sheer force of the attack. He could feel his bones crack up, but he used iryo-ninjutsu to heal himself quickly.

But before he could push himself out of the ground, trees erupted out from the ground and began to surround him, and he grunted as he used his powers again.

“Aka...” A burst of red energy came out of him, blowing away all of the Shodaime’s trees, but that was not it as Obito descended down at him once more.

“Katon: Flash Bomb...” and fire rushed towards him, as Gojo was forced to raise his hand.

“Junten: Ao...” and a blue orb formed in his hand, and swallowed up the entire technique before he shot it up into the sky, right back at Obito, who used his special Gunbai to parry it, but the distraction was enough for him to push himself off of the ground to come at the man.

But before he could even think of landing a hit, a massive wooden fist came at him from the side forcing him to raise his hands to shield himself.

Gojo was sent flying through the air. His body tore through the woods, as Shodaime’s massive wooden Golem prepared to blast him with chakra attack.

Gojo turned his attention towards the fire laced blue orb Obito had parried, and aimed a new strike at it.

“Hanten: Aka...” and he shot a red orb straight towards it.

“You missed,” Orochimaru taunted, but just then he used his powers to slow himself down in a blink, and then used them again to propel himself towards Obito Uchiha.

“Aka....” and he shot forward in a blink, giving Obito little time to use the Kamui, as he grabbed him by the neck and carried him where the red and blue orbs were just about to strike each other.

“Kamui...” Obito tried to phase away, but the two orbs met before he could activate his technique and the resultant technique—Hollow Purple—was an imaginary technique that broke the very concept of space itself.

“You are not getting away this time....” and he plunged the man into the exploding purple orb, even as the technique tore at his own self.

“Murasaki....”

BOOOOOM!

The force from the attack, sent him tumbling into the ground as the hot fire from Obito’s technique seared his skin. For the first time in years, he found himself suffering from injuries, and with his chakra reserves nearly all drained out, he could not gather enough chakra in time before the Shodaime pinned him down using one of his most powerful techniques.

“Senpo: Gracious Deity Gates...” and he could barely rile up his chakra in time before large red torii gates began to fall down from the sky and pinned him down to the ground.

“Ten Gates!” Hashirama Senju announced, and as the tenth gate fell, both the spiritual and metaphorical weight of them was enough to crush his entire being.

The gracious gates were a fuinjutsu that allowed the user to seal off an enemy’s chakra, and if his reserves had just been half full, then he would have been able to break free, but right now he was scraping the barrel.

Still, he refused to let it end like this.

He could not.

He tried to push himself back up, even as the weight of the ten Tori Gates tried to push him down as he used the last of his chakra.

“Hanten: Aka....” but before he could form the technique in full, a familiar voice reached his ears and destroyed it before it could even fully form.

“Almighty Push,” and his body was pushed into the ground. With no shield to protect him, he felt his bones crack from the power of that attack and looked up to see Orochimaru walk up to him.

“I see,” he began as he looked at his hand.

“So, this is what it feels like to wield just a fraction of the Sage of Six Paths’ power,” and he seemed to be in a rather jubilant mood, as Gojo felt himself hovering on the brink of life and death.

“I must say, I am impressed,” Orochimaru now turned towards him.

“Even after facing Pain all by yourself, you were able to put up quite a fight. I fear this whole battle would have been rather equal if you had not drained yourself fighting Nagato,” and Gojo shook his head.

“It’s not over yet,” he retorted weakly, before he felt the taste of iron fill up his mouth.

“Oh, but it is,” Orochimaru teased.

“You fought valiantly, but in the end you are still flesh and blood,” Orochimaru added.

“The Deity Gates are one of the most powerful fuinjutsus ever created. Even the Nine-Tails could not break out of them at the height of its power, and you have exhausted yourself beyond measure,” he continued, and that was all true.

“Your reserves are empty, and your whole body is a mess. I am actually surprised that you are still alive,” and then he raised his hand, and much like Nagato a chakra rod rode up at his command.

“Let me put you out of your misery,” and the steel rod came at him in a blink, yet before it could pierce his body, a shadow appeared in front of him.

CLANG!

The sound of steel clashing against steel spread through the area, as Orochimaru’s borws came together in frustration.

“You!” he snarled.

“I don’t I have ever seen you so beat up,” Shisui’s familiar voice teased him, and then suddenly a green skeletal form erupted around him, before a sheath of armor covered it.

“Susanoo,” Orochimaru gasped, as Shisui turned towards him.

“It has been some time...” Shisui greeted him as his Susanoo pulled back its arm and began to punch at the Tori gates.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

“...old friend!” and with that he broke the ten tori gates, and walked up to him.

“How the hell are you still alive?” Shisui gasped as he saw his condition.

“We have to retreat,” and he shook his head, as he began to push himself off of the ground.

“Universal Pull....” and suddenly Shisui’s body was yanked towards Orochimaru who aimed a rod at his back.

“It’s time for me to be rid of this nuisance,” the Snake Sanin snarled, yet as the steel rod pierced through his body, there was no blood and Shisui appeared behind the Snake Sanin.

“I have the same opinion,” and he swung his tanto at the man, but Orochimaru was able to jump back in time, though his tanto still cut his cheek, and made the man bleed.

While he was still in the air, multiple Shisui clones appeared around the Snake Sanin.

“There is a reason I was called Shisui the Teleporter,” and then they began to cycle through a series of handseals.

“Katon: Fireball jutsu,” and multiple fireballs were aimed at Orochimaru who raised his hands.

“Almighty Push!” and the fire vanished, and so did the afterimages. Shisui himself was thrown into the ground, and before he could get back up, wood surrounded him quickly as the Shodaime started to seal him up.

“Don’t you understand? Resistance is futile,” Orochimaru remarked, and he was now flying now, a testament to his improved mastery over the eyes he had just stolen for himself.

“With the power of Hashirama Senju, and the Sage of Six Paths I am invincible,” he declared.

“I am no longer just a man. I am not flesh and blood. I am a god,” and by now he had made the preparations, and with his chakra all gone there was only one thing that he could do.

“You are lying,” Gojo’s voice cut through the clearing, as glanced up at the Snake Sanin again.

“You are not a God,” he retorted, as he flooded his chakra networks with his own life force, forcing his body to cannibalize itself.

“Gods don’t bleed,” and with those words a massive blue wave of chakra rushed out of him, cracking the ground under his feet.

CRACK!

Gojo rose up fully again, his pains now all gone as he stared into the widened eyes of the Snake Sanin.

“How?” orochimaru gasped as he sensed his power.

“You were out of chakra. You should not be able to do this. Unless...” and now he understood exactly what he was doing.

“...you. You are burning up your very own life force to gather chakra,” and that was exactly what he was doing. He was now pushing himself beyond the normal human limits and given the state he had been in, this would be his last fight.

“Why? Why do you push yourself so much!” Orochimaru asked and het met the Snake Sanin’s gaze as he answered him with the truth.

“Because, I have a promise to keep....”

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Shikaku Nara stood atop a hill, barking orders as Konoha’s forces faced Orochimaru’s army. The enemy numbered ten thousand, and even after several hours of fighting the enemy showed no sign of stopping.

“What the hell?” Inoichi gasped from the side as he looked ahead at the clearing.

“We have been giving it our all, yet it seems like we have barely made any progress,” and that was not exactly true, they had managed to kill around four thousand of the enemy creatures by his estimate.

But given that their enemy did not tire, the odds were beginning to turn against them. Shikaku could see the weariness settling in, and the mistakes that had been scarce until now became more and more frequent, as Konoha’s shinobi exhausted themselves of their resolve, their morale and their chakra.

“Yeah, but we have to fight,” Shikaku answered with gritted teeth.

“Of course,” Inoichi added, before sighing.

“To think that Gojo-sama faced such an army all by himself,” and they could really use him here, but the Hokage was busy fighting a foe far more troublesome than this.

Suddenly, a shinobi landed beside them on the hill, and Inoichi had already alerted him to his presence a few minutes ago.

“Nice timing, Sasuke,” Shikaku added.

“Everyone needs a morale boost of some kind,” but the Uchiha survivor did not answer them and simply walked to the edge of the hill.

“Make it clear to the men that they don’t touch the black flames,” and with those words, Shikaku saw blood drip down his eyes when suddenly black flames erupted far into the distance and then began to spread like wildfire.

“Amaterasu...”

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A/N: You can now read the end including epilogues for the lowest tier.

MC is basically using Baryon Mode. He is burning up his life force kinda how you do so with Eight Gate.