Chapter Text
Despite it All
Chapter 114: Picking up the Pieces
Feedback and Response
(R) - erikteviking1112 - A03 - Chapter 113
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AN
Been a while aye? Sorry about that but I wanted to focus on my other work a bit. But good news, it’s done! (For now!). So I figured it was time to come back to my baby and do some more work. We left on quite the event here, Ikam finally being defeated by Naruto. Feels a bit weird finally having my own creation of sorts finally done. I wanted the first villains and major threat of Naruto to be a personal one to him and his allies, one that challenged his view and played into the themes of a selected one, and finally mold Naruto in the ideal shape for what comes next. Allowing the next arc to play out nicely. We’re going to be having some real fun soon. The long awaited Mist War arc, which will be the longest arc yet and feature some crazy moments, to say nothing of Yagura finally having his chance to shine…
One more thing before we begin, I have thought it over. And for the sake and I’ve decided Despite it All will be the first of a series. Despite the length of this (pun intended) and me writing my own original series, there is more of a story I intend to tell. I have at least seven more arcs in mind, three of which will be massive. So there will be at least one sequel. So after this next arc we’ll be starting fresh with a new story continuing the arc. Might even update NU:UM or begin the launch of a new fanfic idea I’ve been kicking around in my mind. Depends on time, but my work ethic has been through the roof as of late, so we should be good.
Tsunade’s POV (Ikam’s Base Ruins - Uzumaki Ruins)
Tsunade silently walked over to Naruto. She knew what had happened; Ikam and Dan had exploited her emotional state, defeating her and leaving Naruto to face them alone.
It was impossible to know how Tsunade truly felt. For years, she had believed her other half was dead. Now, discovering he was alive—but so changed—was like reopening an old wound. A mix of guilt and sorrow churned in her, making her wonder if Dan's fate was her responsibility after all. As a Sannin and a medical genius, she felt she should have been able to prevent his downfall, yet she wasn't there for him—neither during his first fall nor now.
The very fact that she could move now made it clear what had happened. If it had been anyone else, she would have fallen to fury, but she had seen for herself just how far Naruto Uzumaki was willing to go to spare a life. And Ikam and Dan had clearly been unaffected by her; the fact that they didn’t strike to kill suggested that the care was there, but it clearly came second to their ideals.
In a way, Dan had always been like that. His determination to become Hokage stemmed from an earnest belief that he could fulfill the role well, as well as wanting to lead a wave of peace and understanding. It was all the more tragic that such a man had somehow become one with Ikam. A mind as warped and hate-filled as his own would’ve acted like gas, Dan’s passion and confidence being the spark to the inferno that was Ikam.
Tsunade had hoped to face Ikam herself. She wasn’t certain of what she would do if she had, but it would’ve felt right. To the point where she had impeded Naruto, though it seemed he had the matter under control. It was strange. Dan was likely dead again, but it didn’t feel like it. Tsunade almost felt empty, like she wasn’t sure what to feel. With her having lost Dan once, it almost felt like this wasn’t nearly as devastating. Ikam hadn’t been Dan, not truly. Dan would never have done the things they had done; maybe his death had been for the best. Let old wounds heal as they were.
She climbed onto a roof where she could sense Naruto’s chakra. The blonde-haired man was sitting on the edge of the roof, Riptide gleaming with blood, laid in his lap, and his gaze locked upon it. Behind him was the headless body of Ikam, the smiling face of the man located a short distance away.
“You made it quick,” Tsunade noted calmly, her training as a medic often took over in times like these, allowing her to maintain a professional facade where others crumbled.
“I didn’t want him to suffer… didn’t want any of this.”
“We never do, no reasonable person craves violence. But it’s the nature of this world.” Tsunade said as she walked past Naruto. Fujutsu wasn’t her specialty, but all combat medics carried storage scrolls for supplies, including one designed to safely collect the corpses of allies or valuable defeated foes. She sealed away Dan’s body, feeling a weight leave her shoulder, knowing at long last he could rest at the home he had died for. A small measure of peace was found in all of this. “We all want things, and due to such conflict, it is inevitable that eventually two people, two groups will want the same thing. Or that want or need will come at the cost of another.”
“I just wanted to save my friends and stop him,” Naruto said with a sigh. “No one had to die, not nearly so many people. That shouldn’t carry such a heavy price…”
“It shouldn’t, but it can. If you want or need something, you must accept that you may very well have to fight for it.” Tsunade responded. “I gave up fighting because I lost belief in what I was fighting for. But you have that in spades, which means you will have to fight, likely kill to protect and gain the things you want and need.”
“I realize that now. I won’t let people like that stop me. I’m gonna understand this world. Learn a way to foster peace, cooperation, and growth, and ensure it happens regardless of who stands in the way… all the while, however, I have to be careful…”
“To not become someone like Dan or Orochimaru.” Tsunade agreed with a nod. They're like us in discovering this world is flawed and broken, but unlike you, they are prepared to commit evil to overcome it. The more you learn and fight against this cruel world, the more appealing the force and immorality will become.”
“I won’t be like them. I’m gonna change this world, fight those who hamper or intend to impede progress and understanding, and I’ll do it with the consent and support of all Five Great Villages.”
“You talk good, kid,” Tsunade said with a smile, rubbing the top of his head. “I just hope you can walk it as well.”
Naruto nodded in response, noting a struggling Ino and Karin helping each other to them. “One more thing, you said before, my Sensei, now right? Meaning you’ll heal Choji and Lee as well as aid me in my goal, right?”
“I got my chips on you, kid, yes.”
“Even if it’s against the Leaf’s wishes?”
Tsunade hummed at that. Truly, she never had total loyalty towards the Leaf or any group, for that matter. The death and supposed death of Dan and Kawaki had broken her of that thinking. But deep down, she considered it her home and hoped it would change enough so she could fully embrace it one day. Depending on his answer, she might be for or against it.
“What do you mean?” Tsunade said calmly, being neutral so as not to allow Naruto to glimpse her thoughts either way.
“Just that I know the first step in my new path. I intend to go to the Mist and end the Civil War there.”
“And why would you do that?”
“I wasn’t bluffing earlier. One of the biggest problems in the world is how people treat those who are different. Shinobi or civilian, clan-tied or not, jinchuriki or human, Leaf or Cloud. These are aspects of us, but should not be a sole reason to dislike someone. Everyone seems to treat strangers or those outside their group as potential enemies, but there is no reason for it. If I want to change that, I need to understand war, witness and experience it fully, and figure out how to end one. Maybe I can work something out, maybe I’ll be forced to kill again. But regardless, I can’t just ignore a war like that, not one that determines the fate of a whole group of people…”
“The confirmation you got earlier regarding the Bloodline eradication…” Tsunade said. “Of course you’d object to it, who wouldn’t. But you realize what you're saying, right? The Mist is famed for its violence, depravity, and short temper. I sincerely doubt you can just politic peace as an utter novice, and it’s been waging for years. You’d be facing Yagura Karatachi, a perfect jinchuriki whose power is famed, a Kage at that. Gaara, a much weaker and less experienced jinchuriki, nearly killed you already.”
“I’ve gotten stronger since then. I know it’ll be difficult, if not nearly impossible. But they asked for my help, and if it is so difficult, it’s all the more reason I should.”
“I will support you,” Tsunade declared firmly. “I don’t want to. But if I’ve put my trust in you, I won’t let you face this alone.”
“You can’t come, I just need you to not try to stop me, and to defend the Leaf while I’m gone,” Naruto explained. “It’s bad timing with things looking so messy out there, but my gut tells me I need to go to the Mist. So, I need you to promise to heal Choji and Lee, and make sure we come out alright till I’m back.”
“Leaving the Leaf with no Jinchurki during a time like this…”
“I, "It’s a risk," Naruto agreed. "But I trust my friends and home to manage until I return. I know this will be the piece I need to figure things out. I’ll either persuade or defeat Yagura, then apply what I learn to handle the others."
“Only you could think such matters would be so simple.”
“Complex or simple, the only option is just to start,” Naruto replied with a shrug. Tsunade was talking a step away as Ino and Karin finally managed to climb up.
“Cousin!”
“Blondie!”
The two women cried as they approached, Karin pausing as if shocked he was even there, and Ino diving on top of him worriedly.
“You did it, Blondie, you did it!” Ino cheered. “I knew you could do it!”
“Ikam is dead… he’s really dead…” Karin said numbly. “I’m free…”
“Course I did,” Naruto said with a rueful smile. “He was strong though… I thought Mishiro was insane, but he was on another level-... Wait, where are the others?” He remembered worriedly.
“Karin and Tsunade are to thank for that.” Kakashi joked as he carried Kushina on his back. Suzumebachi and Neji supported each other at his side. “We all made it, my students are becoming true shinobi, barely surviving absolute hell! It’s like a rite of passage.”
“All of our missions go like this,” Neji complained as Suzumebachi dropped to the ground in an exhausted heap.
“Speak for yourselves, before I met you crazy lot, my life was fairly normal!” Suzumebachi complained.
“Son, you actually did it,” Kushina said with a smile. “Your father would be proud, you're becoming more like him every day.”
“He’s making us look bad.” Kakashi joked. “So what about the medicine we came for?”
“Retrieved them myself.”
“Thank you, Karin!”
“What’s family for!” Karin said proudly, nodding to herself, innately pleased to have been helpful to Naruto.
“There’s a lot we need to discuss…” Kushina realized with a sigh.
“You have no idea…” Tsunade agreed.
Onoki’s POV (Tsuchikage’s Manor - Hidden Stone Village)
Onoki sat in his office, a somber mood dominating the group within it. Today had been not a bad day for the Stone, but one of the worst since the last war.
A foreign force had easily snuck within their territory, taken what they had wanted, and it had been a costly loss for them. Roshi and Han had been Onoki’s ace save for himself, the two of them were some of the few that could compare. The two had time and time again shown the ability to survive anything they were faced with. It was why Onoki had left them in charge of the defense of the Stone Tunnel.
As if losing one of their living weapons wasn’t enough, their siege had been hampered in a crippling manner. The Stone tunnel had been destroyed, collapsing from within. They currently weren’t certain of the reason, but he had his Anbu investigating the matter. It wouldn’t be impossible to fix with their level of mastery of stone, but it would be timely. This setback would delay their plans by actual months…
“The casualties among the ambush party were high and unparalleled. The two shinobi we attacked have been identified, one Kakazu formerly of the Waterfall and Hidan formerly of the Hot Springs.” The Anbu captain reported. “ We’ve lost four Anbu, seven Jounin, a dozen Chunin, and six Genin.”
“To say nothing of the loss of Han of the Steam Style. Not only was he a jinchuriki, but his armor along with his jutsu were invaluable to the Stone. With him gone that link we had to that is gone as well.” A Clan head added on.
“To say nothing of our enemies' reaction if they hear we lost him. Without one of our jinchuriki we’re severely lacking in firepower. Are we attempting to make efforts to retrieve him?” Kitsuchi asked. “If so, my daughter and I can lead those efforts.”
“Those two infiltrated our village without our knowledge, battled and defeated both our jinchuriki, then slaughtered more of our men on the way out.” Akatsuchi countered worriedly. “Even with the two of you and the group it would be risky forcing another conflict, outright dangerous if they manage to leave the Land of Stone.”
“We won’t be sending anyone after him.” Onoki declared with a shake of his head. The two Akatsuki members were new to him, but he was all too familiar with their methodology. They had hired them for a few jobs before, they would be long gone by now. “Even if we caught them we have few shinobi of a level that reasonably oppose them in battle and we can’t risk the ones we have now. This changes things…”
“Should we perhaps abandon the siege on the Leaf?” A Jounin asked curiously. “Without the Stone Tunnel ambush, we’ve lost our primary advantage.”
“The Anbu and miners have already begun work to have it repaired.” Onoki said with a sigh. “The exact details are not easy to work out until we get back the report, but depending on the timeframe of that work we will postpone, but now cancel the plan.”
“Is that wise? Without one our jinchuriki and the recent losses we could be at less than a desirable position.”
“We’ve made too much noise now, or A has.” Kitsuchi said with a shake of his head answering for Onoki. “With the movements being made a wise old fox like Hiruzen will be keen, to say nothing of the others. If we stop our efforts now or even attempt to push for peace we’d make an enemy of the Cloud and allow the Leaf the chance to go on the offensive.”
“We also need to consider the “New Leaf”.” The Anbu Captain added. “Investigations into such are difficult with the group shockingly adept at informational combat. Best we can tell however the rumors are accurate, somehow the Leaf has taken over the Sand. They’ve basically done something unheard of…”
“The fall of a Great Village to one of the others, at least full on, is unheard of.” Onoki replied to that. It was by far one of the most concerning pieces of information they had gained. Somehow the Leaf had taken down the considerable Sand without causing much of a stir or seemingly taking on any real losses. Throughout his entire life, all of the wars, all of the close calls had never happened. And it was plain to see why, shinobi by nature were deceptive and clever. An invasion might work for a while, but eventually they would strike back. Yet this showed no signs of it. “It seems the Leaf has been busy themselves, it will be concerning, but if the Sand is under Leaf control we at very least know that grump of a man Rasa must be dead. We were facing the Sand regardless so it changes little, though it is why we will still be using the Stone Tunnel.”
As he finished the Anbu investigating the tunnel appeared in the office. Onoki turned to face them, nodding to let them know to give their report.
“We are investigating the collapse of the tunnel as you asked. The first step of course was establishing just how thorough the damage was. It seems nearly the entire tunnel has collapsed into itself, the stone crushed down and packed by the collision will likely be even more difficult to excavate. While exploring such we discovered the tunnel had collapsed due to explosives. The entrance of it had subtle signs of singed and melted stone, and based on scans, it’s a similar story throughout the tunnel.”
“Could it be a gas leak?” Akatsuchi asked innocently. Onoki doubted that, but it wouldn’t be out of the question. This tunneling wasn’t their first time traversing deep underneath or through the earth beneath them. They did it for mining, for defenses, for attacks but it was never something that was done lightly. There was an entire world beneath the surface, and traversing it was often done blindly and slow. There was no end to the dangers one could encounter, pockets of lava or water threatening to drown you, undetectable and lethal carbon monoxide could suffocate you, or as Akatsuchi was suggesting, the could have encountered a pocket of gas. It would likely be missed at first and spread throughout the tunnel as they worked. All it would take would be a single spark to set it all off. “Were there any reports of sickness?”
“It’s the reason we brought in the miners.” Onoki answered. “They have experience and were on the lookout for signs of any said dangers. There was no report of sickness among workers that would suggest such, and they were testing as they went along. This wasn’t a gas leak.”
“It was not, accounts by nearby personnel suggest the explosions went off one after another. If this was merely a gas leak leading to an explosion it would’ve been one or a couple of massive explosions, gas explosions are insanely quick and widespread after all. The fact that the explosions were smaller, delayed, and one after another suggest charges. This was caused by someone intentionally…”
“So those damn bastards took our weapon and damned our plan!” Kitsuchi roared furiously, punching a hole through the wall in his rage. “Come on, let's go out as a family and make them pay!”
“We’ve already discussed why we can't do such a thing.” The Anbu Captain countered the man calmly. “With the lead they have they’ll be nearly impossible to track, perhaps even reach their base before we manage to intercept them. From there it would be an assault on the group, but considering the strength of just two of their members… Besides they would’ve told us if they expected them, the fact my men didn’t mention them…”
“We’ve run reports of the Akatsuki members through our assessment. For one it was clear the goal of the two were solely the jinchuriki, we tracked their movements and they were inside the village proper and left to pursue them. With that in mind it's clear their goal wasn’t to harm us per se, just take something we had that they wanted. In fact even during their battle with Roshi and Han the two never seemed to have laid eyes on the tunnel, they may not even know it was there. No, it seems it was done from within the ranks. Someone seeing the opportunity as a chance to destroy the tunnel for reasons yet established. And we believe it to be Kurotsuchi…”
That caused an eruption. Kitsuchi suddenly surged forward attempting to snatch the neck of the Anbu for speaking, the Anbu Captain surged forward barely managing to hold him back, only managing with the aid of the other Anbu. The various elite Jounin and Clan Heads erupted into anger. Onoki froze, shocked by the words, before he regained his senses a moment later. Onoki snapped his fingers and flexed his chakra.
A small ball of blinding light spawned above them all. All of them stumbling and crying out in pain as they were blinded by it. “Enough children, let him finish… that being said I hope you recognize making such accusations with no proof isn’t something I’ll take lightly.” Onoki warned as they recovered.
“We wouldn’t have said such unless I was certain. All personnel who survived and were manning the tunnel reported she would’ve been the last one inside, she has been slightly unfavor as of late giving her motive, and she was by all accounts missing from the main battle, only appearing towards the end to save Roshi…”
The words were delivered coldly and calmly. The logic in a room full of veterans was crystal clear. Undeniable certainty flowed through him, there was no denying it. Kurotsuchi had committed a grave offense, depending on how it was interrupted it could be described as treason…
Onoki felt all of their eyes land on him. But they were foolish. Onoki had learned long ago to not let his emotions cloud his judgment. But Kitsuchi had none of said wisdom.
They didn’t realize he was making a move. The man calmly sat as they began to argue back and forth and demanded Onoki’s response. Onoki flinched, if it were anyone else he would’ve struck to kill from the start. Better to move first, but this was his son, even in this circumstance Onoki could never see the man opposing it. However it cost him.
“EARTH STYLE: LIFEWEAVED ORB!”
Cries of shock erupted as the building shook and rumbled. The room was darkened as the window was blocked off. The men rushed for the exits and by their shock it confirmed what Onoki had expected. Kitsuchi had sealed them, likely in some sort of earth prison.
The Anbu surrounded the sitting man, weapons and killing intent aimed and primed at him and awaiting permission.
“He’s working with her!”
“Strike him down!” Two of the Jounin roared in fury.
“Surely we can’t allow this treachery.” One of the Clan Heads complained.
“It’s not as though I aided her, nor do I agree with her decision.” Kitsuchi replied calmly. “But as a father I have a responsibility to protect my daughter, even when she makes mistakes. I will keep up this barrier for five minutes, then crumble it and aid in her capture. But not a moment sooner! It will not be breached!”
“Son, I respect this decision but you must realize it’s a pointless one.” Onoki said with a heavy sigh. “This barrier is mighty, I can tell based off the latent chakra within it. But you must know my Particle Style is unrivaled.”
“It is, even if it did withstand one of them, a combination of them would surely destroy it. But you heard the name of this technique father. One I created to ensure my home and the people I love will not be harmed as long as I draw breath. The Lifeweaved Orb isn’t merely a physical barrier, it is enhanced by my very life energy, even still you can breach it. But such an action will kill me father…”
Onoki paused at that. The two of them were the most promising of his men, his trusted few, for them to be acting this way… Onoki could not afford to lose them both. It was clear even as his heart was broken he was thinking of his home. “We’ll allow it, but rest assured she’ll be hunted down soon… there is no going back from this.”
X-X
Kurotsuchi sat on the top of a mountain, gazing down at her home for perhaps the final time. Her decision had been impulsive, yet even now she hadn’t regretted it. Such a minor battle compared to war had cost them so much, and led to so much death. Averting such a thing had to be worth it. But it had a medically downed Roshi who had warned her. Her treachery would be discovered, they would come for her.
So now here she was fleeing her home. Acting out on some pointless moral high ground and now soon to be hunted down and killed by her own.
Where would she go? Where could she go where they wouldn’t find her?
It was then that a desperate, stupid, but also brilliant idea occurred to her…
AN
Was off base on what we could complete with a single chapter. But I will be updating soon to finish Naruto’s arc and the Cloud. Kurotsuchi is on the run, and Kitsuchi shows some depth to his character. Hope you enjoy and Peace~!