Will of Fire
Well, here's something I've been tinkering around with for the past few weeks. This is based of an idea of Mr. Mysterious on TFF, used with permisison, of course. This fic was actually born out of my frustration with how Fata Morgana has been going. I"ve been ninety-five percent done since march, but these last couple of scenes are causing me no end of trouble and when I get frustrated I tend to go do other things till I can clear my head a bit.
There's no Naruto in this part, the focus is on Sarutobi and Orochimaru. But he shows up shortly, he is the main character after all.
Sarutobi eyed the newcomers wearily, completely ignoring the knife at his neck. He could feel the contamination of their chakra, a taint that was unmistakable. He allowed a grim smirk as a wall of purple flame erupted around the four disciples of his former student. 'Good,' he thought. 'The nuisances will be upholding the barrier.'
His student had always had a flair for the dramatic; Sarutobi knew that a knife to the neck would not sit well with Orochimaru, that there would be a 'final battle' between them.
"You bring war to my doorstep, endanger all those under my protection, and for what… revenge? You truly are a disappointment, Orochimaru."
Orochimaru sneered under his mask. Keeping Sarutobi in a loose headlock, he reached up and dug his fingers into his flesh. Peeling away the false face of the Kazekage, Orochimaru eyed the Sandaime hungrily, as he shed his Kage robes as easily as the face.
'How like a snake…' Sarutobi sighed internally. 'I really should have stopped that boy's fetish before it took root.'
"So you figured it out." Orochimaru gave his kunai a lick, causing Sarutobi to reiterate his last thought. "Your foolishness brought this down upon your precious village. Konoha has grown stagnant, grown complacent. I have already won.
"I hope you've picked the fifth already Sandaime, because today you die." Orochimaru wrapped his tongue around the handle of the kunai at Sarutobi's throat, freeing up his left hand.
Tilting his head slightly, Sarutobi looked over his shoulder at his greatest shame. "I knew this day would come, but you will not claim my head so easily."
Letting go of his sensei, Orochimaru turned and walked half-a-dozen steps. His tongue flicked to the side and tossed the knife into the barrier before retreating back to his mouth. The purple barrier flared and the metal fell to the rooftop, slag. Once again facing his former teacher, Orochimaru grinned. "The crumbling of the leaf shall be the wind that changes the world."
Sarutobi closed his eyes. "You haven't changed a bit." He stripped his own robes in an instant, and crouched, clad in his war gear, in a neutral position of the Mountain-Stone Monkey style. He opened his eyes, and looked every day of his sixty-nine years. He smelt a flash of ozone as a second barrier jutsu was erected and allowed an ironic smile. "Looks like escape is going to be difficult. At least you trained your nuisances well."
"As if you intended to," Orochimaru leered at the older man. "You have as much unfinished business with me as I with you, Sensei." Sarutobi let the sarcasm and venom Orochimaru poured into that last word pass by without acknowledgement.
Shifting his body to the side, Sarutobi slid his hand to his shuriken holster. "And it seems I have one last lesson to teach."
After flinging a single shuriken, Sarutobi exploded into a set of seals; before the shuriken was halfway between them, it spilt into two, then four, and then countless shuriken flew at Orochimaru.
Even before Sarutobi had started his seals, Orochimaru recognized his opening tactic from when he was serving under the aged Hokage, and snapped out a quick set of seals.
Sarutobi's eyes widened as large coffin-like containers erupted through the roof in front of Orochimaru, blocking all of his shuriken. 'Edo Tensei, that means… Ugh, I'll have to do something about the third one.'
Several ideas fired through his brain, and in an instant he started pouring his chakra into Orochimaru's own technique. The Hokage's chakra twisted, inverted and spread inside the summoning technique like a poison, polarizing the chakra Orochimaru channeled into it. 'Damn, too late.' The Hokage scowled as two of the coffins creaked open. 'At least it was enough to stop the third one.' He thought as the last coffin dissipated in a swirl of smoke.
Two figures in full combat armor stepped out of the coffins, and the two brothers that founded the city of Konoha once again laid foot on it's ground. "Oi, Saru, its been a long time. You look old." Sarutobi's eye twitched, of course that would be the first thing the newly resurrected Nidaime would comment on.
Sarutobi sighed, his eyes narrowed. His student was at his prime so to speak, and two Hokage stood between him and his goal. He knew of the Edo Tensei of course, it was one of Konoha's forbidden arts after all. The jutsu that used a living sacrifice to house the spirits of the dead, and bend them to the user's will. Truly, it was a horrific technique. However, destroy the sacrifice's body completely, and the spirit will have nothing to inhabit.
There was a ninjutsu that Sarutobi knew would allow him to accomplish this. Sarutobi fell back into a crouched stance as he prepared the technique. A secret art that was passed down from Hokage to Hokage, a skill that Konoha was founded to protect, to keep secret. One he had hoped to never need again; one he had had no intention of ever using again.
"Hokage Hiden Ninpou: Saisei Karano Haigara." Sarutobi stated in a dull monotone. To force him to use this technique once more, Sarutobi would kill Orochimaru for that alone.
Orochimaru gaped as his former teacher's skin, cragged and withered as it was, turned to a pinkish color, then a full-blown red. Sarutobi groaned as his flesh twisted and expanded in a reckless manner, blood dripped from his eyes, boiling from the internal heat. Finally an unnatural silence filled the warded area, and the two revived brothers smiled coldly as the body of the third Hokage burst into flame. The fire washed over the two living corpses, and the pair welcomed the cleansing blaze as it obliterated the sacrificed bodies, freeing their spirits once more.
The fire guttered itself in seconds and left in its place an ash statue of the Sandaime. The mouth of the statue cracked and began to fall apart. "BURN WITH THE WILL OF FIRE!" A booming voice resonated from the statue.
Orochimaru's jaw nearly dropped as he felt it, the weight of the power coming off the statue. A sudden wind picked up around the statue, forming a small whirlwind, and blasted the remaining ash from the current Hokage's form. The black clad ninja stood straight and tall, no trace of wrinkles or even the hint of gray hair was left on the once aged Kage. The tiles around Sarutobi groaned under the pressure of his newly rejuvenated chakra. Sarutobi smirked, and brought his power to bear, shattering the tiles completely. Orochimaru could not help but step back, in the face of that power; looking upon a youthful face he had not seen for decades, the snake Nin felt like a fresh genin all over again. Inexperienced. Powerless.
"What trickery is this?!" He demanded. His eyes glinted, and mad as he was, Orochimaru was still a genius scientist. And from everything his senses were telling him, this renewal was complete; his body hopping paled before this technique.
Sarutobi stepped forward, tapping his foot on the ground. The Hokage blurred, and then vanished. Orochimaru craned his neck wildly, looking for the slightest hint of his teacher.
He had only a moment to gawk when Sarutobi reappeared at his side gripping his arm; he bit back a wince as he felt his elbow break as Sarutobi struck.
Bones creaked under the pressure as Sarutobi slammed his open hand over Orochimaru's mouth, seizing his face a fierce grip. A grim smile flitted across Sarutobi's face as his other arm flashed out in a vicious knife hand strike to his student's shoulder. The chakra enhanced blow ripped through Orochimaru's muscles and tendons with ease. Twisting his hand savagely, Sarutobi took a moment to lean into Orochimaru, and whispered to his former disciple, "Water-splitting strike of the Monkey King. Now, I erase my shame." And with that, Sarutobi pulsed the chakra running through his hand and tore Orochimaru's arm from it's socket.
As much as he loathed admitting it, at that moment, Orochimaru's muffled scream was as beautiful as the sunrise over Konoha to Sarutobi.
That brief moment he took to savor what was soon to be his final lesson to his pupil was all Orochimaru needed though. His throat expanded slightly as he gagged up one of his snakes.
Sarutobi lashed out with his foot as he felt the fangs piece his hand, launching Orochimaru across the roof. Skidding to a halt a few meters away Orochimaru clutched his bleeding stump. "This is not over, Sarutobi." He hissed out, as the ground shattered out from under him.
Rushing over to the hole, Sarutobi watched as Orochimaru and that silver-haired genin from the exams fled out of his sight. The tell tale green glow of a medical technique plainly visible around the youth's hands, even as they ran.
As soon as Orochimaru was out of his sight, the purple barrier around the roof dissipated, and he watched the four gnats took off after their master. As much as he wanted to pursue them and finish what was started, as Sarutobi looked out over his village, he knew more important things had to be done.
"And so the battle rages on," he murmured, "and my people suffer for my mistake." His voice rose in volume as he spoke, until peaking in a thunderous crescendo, "Let us show these invaders the true meaning of the Will of Fire!"
A flash of light and the figure of the Sandaime Hokage vanished from sight. And all those of Konoha knew, the god of all shinobi was among them, the battle was joined.