Chapter 54.15- Gamer of the Desert

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To defeat Danzo, two things had to be done. One, the man himself had to die. Two, those loyal to him had to be either killed or coopted. With what she had come to learn about how Danzo trained his Ne operatives, she was forced to accept that the later was not much of an option when it came to them. And then there was another group of people who would have to be deal with to secure Danzo’s fall. The Elders. Sarutobi-sensei’s teammates. Those old fucks had been part of the reason why Danzo’s rise in Konoha had been so smooth and she had no doubts that they were fundamentally in support of his rule. That was why Orochimaru had been dispatched to deal with them. Even with their age, they had still been students of the Second Hokage, so sh hoped he exercised an acceptable level of caution when it came to dealing with them.

But that was besides the point. She leaned out of the way of a blade that tried to separate her head from her shoulders and stepped into the weilder’s guard before lashing out with a punch. She felt bones give way before her fist as the man was sent flying backwards, dead. Her, JHiraiya, and Naruto, against a collection of well trained secret operatives beneath Konoha. It wasn’t even close to a fair fight.

She spied Jiraiya and his student out of the corner of her eyes as one used his white main technique to wield his hair like a club and bludgeon everyone who got close while the other weaved seals continuously to deal with everyone who attempted to attack them from a distance. She didn’t trust Orochimaru farther than she could throw him but she did but she had to recognise that he was a far better sensei than she gave him credit for. He’d turned the brat into something of a ninjutsu powerhouse.

She felt someone drop to the ground before her and leaned out of the way of the gentle fist strikes the boy sent her way before she attempted a punch down at him. He jumped backwards in time to dodge but she followed through with the movement and slammed her fist into the ground, sending those who had been trying to surround her flying off their feet.

“I am Hyuga Neji. I will be your opponent.” She almost scoffed at the idiot. It pained her to see one so young brought in on Danzo’s mess.

“You are dead. Nothing more, nothing less” She replied to him. Instead of waiting for him to come at her, she covered the fdistance between them in less time than it would have taken him to blink and then grabbed a hold of his head with his palm. The next to come at her was forced backwards as she weided the Hyuga boy like a flail. In her next movement, she snapped the boy’s neck and dropped him to the ground, limp. Another came at her with a cloud of insects around him. Aburame. She held her breath a second to ensure that no insects used that way into her and then drew her chakra upon herself like a shroud.

She hardened the shroud like Sensei had taught her to and then covered the distance between her and the masked shinobi. He dodged pout of the way of her first punch, but missed the follow up. People always tended to miss the follow up. She heard the sounds off chirping and bent her head just in time to dodge an attack that had been aimed at separating said head from her neck. She stared at the eyes behind the mask. Sharingan. Uchiha Sasuke then.

She moved to deal with him but before she could complete her approach, there was someone between her and the boy. Someone infinitely more dangerous. His black cloak with red clouds made him even more recognisable than his gleam ing red eyes and sharp aristocratic features. Their eyes met for an instant and she snapped the genjutsu he tried to place her in in less than a second. Dangerous, She thought. She ran right at him, and unlike every other man here, he did not move to run from her when she came. Instead he stood his ground and allowed her come. Foolish.

She lashed out with a punch to his head that he weaved out of the way of and he retaliated with a kick that she was forced to block with both hands. She grunted at the impact. He had to have a good grasp of chakra enhancement because there was no way this wisp of a man was strong enough to kick like that.

He pulled his leg backwards as she aimed to take advantage of the fact that his balance was off. One leg in the air was no way to fight. Two punches were sent from her at razor speeds. Both were dodged as he completed his lean backwards and turned it into a backflip. As he flew through the air, he sent a series of shurinken at her. Stomping the ground with her feet forced a wedge of stone to cover her form and absorb the attack. She took two deep breaths and jumped around the stone wall she’d made.

She formed a single hand seal as she noticed him weave a few of his own. His great fireball travelled across the space between them with impressive speed but she kneaded her chakra just as Uncle Tobirama had taught her all those decades ago. “Water Release: Water Bullet” The water release technique was smaller than the fire release jutsu as she did not have a strong affinity for the element. It mattered little, however. It was enough to force a path through the fire ball for her to run through, and run through she did.

They clashed in taijutsu again. This time he was the first to attack. A kunai held in his right hand failed to stab into her shoulder as she leaned out of the way of the attack. The same kunai almost cut a line through her neck but she was quick enough to punch at him and force him to abandon the attack with his dodge. He jumped backwards, and this time she followed instantly. Jumping into the air, she lifted one of her legs and brought it down first. Instead of dodging out of the way, he crossed his arms. She smirked. The fool was dead.

She felt her leg make contact, but unlike what she expected, there was no reaction. She used his arms as leverage to turn her motion into a backflip to avoid the small but sealless fireball he sent her way. She noted the cracks moving along the floor with a scowl. He’d redirected her chakra at the point of impact and funnelled it down into the ground. Dangerous.

She sensed a massive buildup of chakra to her side and turned to see Jiraiya running at her with his student wrapped in his mane. “Probably a good idea to run, Hime” He said to her, and she looked behind him to see a massive tidal wave of water making its way to them. A tidal wave being ridden by a recognisable blue skinned man with a very recognisable blade in his grasp. Of course, they moved in groups of two. She joined Jiraiya in his run as they sought a way out of the Root tunnel. That much water down here could drown them if they weren’t careful.

Left, right, they ran down the hallways chased by the water. Instead of reducing as they went further, it felt like the water mass was increasing. And not just that, it was gaining on them. She scowled and tried to place their position in the village. These tunnels were just repurposed versions of the old evacuation tunnels she had played in as a child. She noted a familiar bit of stone where she had formed three marks with her kunai and scowled at the memory before jumping up towards the roof of the tunnel with her fist cocked. She primed her chakra and released it just as she struck the smooth stone above her.

Everything above her exploded outward and sunlight raced into the tunnel. She felt herself get caught by Jiraiya’s hair before she could fall back into the tunnel as he jumped outside along with her. She heard the water rush down the tunnel, passed their previous positions and nodded to herself. Hopefully, nothing would remain of the markings her younger self had made all those years ago. T+O with a heart around the letters wasn’t the kind of thing she wanted to see again.

Now on the streets of Konoha, she turned to the left expecting to see the tower she’d spent much of her childhood playing in but was faced with only a giant sand pyramid. That rat bastard, she snarled to herself. And then she heard the sound of an explosion further in the city.

A/N; Much better now, ey?