Jiro, Tsunade, and Sarutobi were waving goodbye to Jiraiya and Orochimaru. It had been about a week since Jiraiya revealed that he would have to go on a journey. Miraculously, Jiraiya managed to convince Sarutobi to force Orochimaru into traveling with him. Although everyone was sending them off with blessings, the snake summoner waved back with no enthusiasm at all.Jiro waved back as they began to walk into the forest. The instant they disappeared, he instantly headed towards the forest with Kana. Besides continuing to teach Homura and sometimes give some advice to the Kurama clan, Jiro was completely sick of staying within the confines of Konoha. There was nothing exciting left inside of the village"s walls.
He could try fighting some Jonin, but Jiro was unwilling as there would be very little at risk in the ensuing spar. He also knew that he could explore the forest further with Kana to discover the strongest of the beasts and he was looking forward to that.
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A month pa.s.sed by with Jiro and Fugaku turning eleven. Not much was done to celebrate their birthday. Once again, Jiro was back at the forest with Kana. The depths of the forest seemed to loom as he continued to ride on the back of Kana. Even though winds rushed towards him, a green aura around Jiro seemed to make him blend in with the wind. The same went for Kana. The green aura of wind chakra surrounding them made the winds pa.s.s by them without crashing into them to create air resistance.
Jiro"s sharingan were active as he searched for signs of an overlord within this area of the forest. Kana and Jiro had conquered a very large portion of the Forest of Death. Even though they marched further inside, none of the fights were very interesting. Surprisingly, none of the other large animals encountered had shown any ability in controlling chakra like the ape or Kana.
Kana paused. Jiro spotted several trees start to topple over in succession before a large snake slithered out. The snake seemed to be very old with scales marred by scars from previous fights. The olive green mottled with black helped the snake blend in with the forest, but it"s figure was easily exposed with Jiro"s sharingan and Kana"s exceptional vision.
A pair of dark blue eyes stared at Kana and Jiro. The two parties stared at each other both refusing to back down before both burst into motion. An aura of green suddenly engulfed Kana while an outer layer of red flames materialized over the aura. A green and red phoenix appeared forming over Kana while Jiro jumped off Kana.
A similar green aura engulfed Jiro, but he disappeared within the blink of an eye as he sped towards the snake. Kana also moved, but she was not quite as speedy as Jiro. An outline of green and red could be seen. Just as the snake started to form an earthy colored aura, a giant flaming lance of fire pierced through the snake"s body.
Jiro immediately dispelled the chakra that formed the lance as he waited for another chance to attack the snake. The snake hurried in it"s construct and a brown cobra was formed with eye catching patterns spread across it"s hood. Jiro immediately felt the onset of a Genjutsu and he dispelled it with ease. Kana, on the other hand started to slow down in her speedy rush.
Jiro once again disappeared and he arrived on top of Kana"s head within a second. He immediately dispelled the Genjutsu forming over Kana allowing her to flap away from a lunge of the jaws from the snake. As it"s slammed over nothing, a flaming beam landed on the same spot as the lance burning away the flesh which was trying to reconnect together.
As the snake hissed in pain, Jiro frowned as he was confused, but intrigued. The regeneration speed of the snake was visible and the wound he created as already beginning to close. Kana too had a concern visible in her eye as she looked at the snake. Even though Jiro wanted to study the snake, he would have to make it submit. Looking at its wild eyes, Jiro knew that it would rather die than be tamed.
Jiro suddenly jumped straight up from Kana"s back. Synchronizing, Kana and Jiro immediately unleashed a huge blade of wind that overlapped to create an even more devastating wave of death. The snake immediately sensed the danger, but it was too late. A spray of blood formed in the air and it shimmered as the afternoon sun shined down on it.
A loud earthshaking thud rolled out as the snake"s head fell down. Jiro and Kana continued to remain in the air with caution. Even though there was blood everywhere, the leeches and other insects obsessed with blood did not show up. Kana flew further up into the air with caution visible in her eyes.
She zoomed up as quick as possible just as a jaw burst out of the ground from underneath her. The forest itself began to shake as a giant body began to slowly shake itself off, uprooting trees and destroying the landscape. Jiro stared with visible excitement as several "snakes" began to rise. The giant body of a tortoise showed up, but nine snake heads were visible at where the head of a turtle should be. At the tail area of the beast, a stump was present. To Jiro"s surprise, the head was growing back already. It wouldn"t recover in an instant, but its speed was very surprising.
The behemoth"s sh.e.l.l was covered in dirt and some trees were growing on it"s back. Various bugs and other abominations scurried off across the ground as Jiro looked on from the back of Kana. Its six legs were like giant trees firmly rooted in the ground. The beast emanated a feeling of ancientness as if it had been present for a very long time.
Although it had awakened, the beast seemed to be mostly asleep. Only the snake head at the tail and the one that had attacked them seemed to be remotely awake. The other snake heads were in some sleep like state. Jiro exchanged a grin full of l.u.s.t for battle with Kana before he sucked in a deep breath. Kana also took in a deep breath and both waited for a couple of seconds before a devastating beam of fire tore through the sky to slam right into the sh.e.l.l of the beast. The trees attached to the sh.e.l.l were instantly turned into ash, but the sh.e.l.l remained mostly the same.
The attack gave incentive to the other heads to awake. A wave of chakra manifested itself as a wave of wind that pa.s.sed by Jiro and Kana. Kana was filled with the intent to battle as was Jiro. Before they could begin their attack, the heads of the behemoth all let out a roar at the same time.
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Sarutobi abruptly got up and put down the papers he was working on. Several anbu were already present in the room and ready for action. A couple more entered into the room when members of the Uchiha police force barged into the room along with some members of the Hyuga clan. Rivalries forgotten, both members of their respective clans immediately reported a level of chakra that could match up to the tailed beasts showing up in the Forest of Death.
After reporting, the room fell into silence as everyone waited for the decision of the Hokage. In the face of urgent and masked faces, Sarutobi was the picture of calm and readiness. He began to bark out commands to everyone in the room.
"Everyone, we are facing an unknown calamity that is most likely able to match up to the tailed beasts. Anbu, begin to evacuate the citizens towards the bunkers. The police force will also begin to guide the citizens. Make sure to pa.s.s the message that anyone below Jonin will also begin to guide the citizens."
"Any ninja above the rank of genin will be put under the command of the Jonin who are in charge of village defense and follow their commands. All Jonin and above not in charge of defense are to report to the entrance of the Forest of Death. Get medics who are part of the battlefield healing squadron to report to the entrance of the Forest of Death. Get moving!"
Numerous blurs sped out of the Hokage"s office while Sarutobi himself summoned his companion. A monkey decked in ninja armor and a tiger like vest appeared in the room. He also took a deep breath before speaking to Sarutobi.
"Sarutobi, this is going to be a dangerous battle. This thing that we are going to fight is on the level of the tailed beasts."
Sarutobi had a grim expression as he agreed.
"Indeed, this is going to be dangerous. My student Jiro has provoked some monster that I never knew existed within the depths of the Forest of Death. I hope that this will end well. Come, let"s begin to move."