Pushing Through the Limit Chapter 53: Shattered Skies (Patreon)

“You don’t see that every day,” Anko whistled, staring up at the sky.

A massive stone fortress floated above the ocean with hundreds of Shinobi working tirelessly to ensure that it remained in the air. The structure itself practically hummed with Chakra as artificial pathways circulated that Chakra. It was almost as if the fortress was a living, breathing entity.

“No you do not,” Shizune hummed, equally as impressed.

I nodded in agreement. It was fairly impressive. The Sky Nation had done something that no other nation had done when constructing their flying fortress, proving to be the first to claim the skies on such a scale. It reminded me a little of Kumo’s Genbu island… although, much smaller.

However, having such a large fortress in the sky wasn’t exactly a good thing. They painted a massive target on their back. While the structure was floating and mobile, it didn’t look like it would be able to move that fast. It was one Bijuudama away from being removed from existance.

They were lucky that they didn’t try to pick a fight with Kumo first or they would have been completely annihilated within an instant. Yugito and Matatabi would have just swatted it down while Bee would have likely decided to play with it… Hell, if they’d gone for Iwa, Ōnoki would have reduced the entire structure to dust by now.

“And for good reason too,” Kurama growled. “The fortress is bathed in that Chakra… Let’s just blow it up and head back.”

‘We can do that a little later,’ I promised.

There were plenty of interesting things to pilfer from the fortress before destroying it… Besides, I wanted to see how they were producing that Chakra.

“You fuckers sure took your sweet ass time,” Tayuya snapped. “What, did we interrupt an orgy? Hey, Blondie, who was pitching and who was catching?”

“Damnit, Tayuya,” Kidomaru cursed, slapping his palm to his head. “You’ve already angered the Hokage. Do you really need to piss off the guy who kicked all of our asses too?”

“Why the hell should I care? We’re all on the same side now, so he can’t exactly beat the crap out of us again,” Tayuya reasoned.

Although her reasoning was off, she wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Tayuya, shut up,” Kimimaro ordered. A sharpened bone pierced through the palm of his hand. “I won’t warn you a third time.”

Tsunade did say that she sent a group of Shinobi ahead to leave a marker, but I hadn’t expected her to send the Sound Five. I hadn’t even known that they were still alive… besides Kimimaro of course. If he died, Jūgo would have gone berserk.

“It’s been a while. I’m glad to see that you’re doing well, Kimimaro,” I said, slipping into a more formal, amused tone, doing my best to partially emulate Orochimaru’s speech mannerism.

“Thank you… Naruto-sama. It took longer than I wished, but the Hokage managed to cure my illness,” Kimimaro explained, bowing his head. “How may we be of service to you?”

I hummed in thought as I considered the team in front of me. I was originally going to send the team back to Konoha, but the Sound Five could be somewhat helpful here.

“We’re going to be destroying that today,” I said, pointing to the fortress. “They’ve been using civilians from the Land of Fire, see if you can find them... Be sure to kill any Sky Shinobi that gets in your way and grab anything you find interesting.”

Since I wasn’t going to be destroying the fortress immediately, or flooding it with clones, it would be for the best if we split up and attacked from a few different points.

“Understood,” Kimimaro nodded.

Turning my gaze towards the mobile fortress, I searched for the entrances with the fewest guards before throwing one of my Kunai.

“Our first mission as a team again and we have to deal with these guys,” Anko muttered softly as I proceeded to teleport the Sound Five before immediately returning.

…PTL…

A Sky Shinobi let out a pained scream as a Kunai tore through his chest, somehow missing all his vital spots. The sound of metal wire being reeled in echoed down the hallway as his body was suddenly pulled off the floor, suspended by a wire sticking through his chest.

“FUCK!” The Shinobi roared, his Kunai launcher abandoned on the floor as he grabbed onto the wire, preventing it from cutting him any further than it already had.

“Hello there,” Anko greeted the man as she tied the other end of the wire off to one of the numerous pipes lining the walls. “I would tell you I’m sorry for… well, all of this, but you did recently invade my village, so I…”

Shizune coughed loudly.

“Right, I’ll just get to the point then,” Anko sighed. “You’re going to tell me the layout of this building, or…” She chuckled as a snake slithered from her sleeve. “Let’s just say that things aren’t exactly going to go well for you.”

“G… Go to hell, Konoha dog,” The Shinobi snarled, spitting on the ground.

“I was hoping you would say that,” Anko smiled, her snake shot from her sleeve, burying its fangs into the man’s neck. “Fun fact about little Hebi-chan here. Her venom, while extremely painful, hasn’t developed to the point where it can cause pain… At least not in a single bite. Let’s find out how potent her venom is, together.”

Catching sight of several rapidly approaching Sky Shinobi, Shizune threw several poison coated Senbon their way, making short work of the group.

In the air, they would have had a lot more dexterity, therefore, they would have been a lot harder to hit, but on land, they just didn’t measure up. It also didn’t help that none of them seemed to know a single Jutsu. They were almost entirely reliant on their Kunai launchers to bridge the difference in skill.

“Let’s go,” Anko said, stepping past Shizune. “I got what I needed.”

“Already?” Shizune asked, glancing towards the now dead Shinobi before following after Anko.

“Yep,” Anko hummed, not breaking her stride. “It’s a good thing too. I was just about to start tearing my way through the walls.”

Following Anko’s lead, the duo quickly made their way through the maze of tunnels inside of the floating fortress, killing every Sky Shinobi that they came across.

The odd thing, however, was that the further they made their way into the fortress, the less Shinobi they encountered, until there were no Shinobi left. It wasn’t that they were already dead… No, there would be bodies if that was the case. It was that an entire section of the structure was avoided.

“You think they’d guard this place a little better,” Anko hummed as they came to a stop in front of a large set of iron doors. She could feel it. A massive Chakra source that was just a little smaller than one further up in the fortress.  “Well, no time like the present.”

Slipping the Kusanagi into her hand, Anko gave a heavy swing, slicing straight through the door. With a few more, the door collapsed and light flooded into the dark room.

Peering into the almost entirely empty room, Shizune stifled her surprise when she saw what it contained. There, at the back end of it was an unconscious red headed girl who appeared to be a year younger than the rookies, chained to the wall.

Bright seals pulsed on the wall across the room as Chakra was siphoned from her body.

“Just when I thought I couldn’t hate these bastards any more than I do already,” Anko muttered. Taking an experimental step forward, she immediately backtracked as she felt her own Chakra begin to drain. “Crap, that’s some serious Chakra drain.”

It was strange. With the rate at which Chakra was siphoned from within the room, the girl should have been dead by now, but from what Anko could tell, she was fine.

The girls Chakra levels were low, but not dropping any further, something that should be impossible, unless the room stopped siphoning Chakra once a person hit a certain point or her Chakra was regenerating at the same rate at which it was being siphoned.

Extending her Kusanagi, Anko sliced through the chains holding the girl, before pulling her out of the room, using a few snakes that extended from Anko’s sleeve. If the Sky Shinobi saw fit to imprison this girl, then Anko wanted to free her.

Kneeling down next to the girl, Shizune immediately began to inspect the state of her body, looking to see what was needed to help her.

“She’s… Completely fine,” Shizune muttered, watching as the chafed skin around her wrists healed rapidly. “Her Chakra’s already regenerating… rapidly.”

“That doesn’t seem normal,” Anko muttered cautiously.

Letting out a groan, the girl slowly woke up. “Shinnō… Sensei?” Her eyes suddenly snapped open as she sat up, clutching her head. “NO! Sensei, why did you lock me in that room?!”

Leaning down, Shizune offered a comforting hand to the girl. “Everything’s going to be alri…”

A purple, fleshy hand suddenly wrapped around Shizune’s neck, before Anko reacted, slicing through it. The duo jumped back, retreating part way down the hall as they warily watched the girl.

Clutching her head, tears streamed down the girl’s face as she muttered the same word over and over again. “Sensei… SENSEI… SENSEI!” The same purple flesh substance wrapped around her body, forming a large leech-like creature.

Hovering its head above the ground, the flesh below its mask split, forming the creature's version of a smile. “That Chakra… I feel it in your mark, it’s interesting. Give it to me.”

Several arms burst from its body and rushed down the hallway, racing towards Anko.

Twirling the Kusanagi in her hand, Anko stepped into the attack, cutting through the limbs with a practiced ease and while one managed to grab onto her leg, it was quickly cut off and removed.

Seeing that it was getting nowhere with its attack, the creature retracted its limbs.

“Try that again, bastard, I dare you,” Anko snapped, readying herself to cut through the rest of the leech’s body.

“You have much darkness in your heart all centered around one man… Orochimaru,” The Leech hummed. “I see now… Do you really think that you’re worthy of friends, of love… especially with your mistakes? You’re fooling yourself and you know it.”

Anko’s shoulders shook as she stared down at the ground, leaning on her blade. Shizune was about to reach out to her, only for Anko to throw her head back in laughter that echoed down the hallways.

“Oh… Oh man, that’s a good one,” She hummed. Wiping a tear from her eye, she looked up at the leech. “Did you really think that a few words would be all it takes to break me… Especially when they’re coming from you? Look at yourself, you’re a giant, malicious Leech creature. Why would I take anything you say to heart?”

Not taking the mocking lightly, the leech charged towards the duo, tearing chunks out of the floor and walls as it prepared to attack.

Stabbing her blade into the ground, Anko clapped her hands together and exhaled a massive stream of white hot fire that filled the hallway, pushing the leech back as it burnt its flesh.

Releasing her hold on the technique, the fire soon died down, revealing the leech’s burnt body. Flesh that had once been purple was now scorched black.

Letting out a screech, the leech shivered as the blackened parts of its body tore off, dropping to the ground, making way for new, healthy flesh. Within a matter of seconds, it finished regenerating, returning back to its perfect condition.

“Well crap. I wasn’t expecting that,” Anko muttered. “You got any ideas, Shizune, because the next thing I’m going to pull out might just blow a hole in this fortress.”

Watching the creature with a keen eye, Shizune nodded. “I do have one, but you’re going to have to be extra precise.”

“Sure. What do you need?”

“An opening,” Shizune answered. “One at the base of the leech... The point it’s protecting. If I were to guess, that’s where the girl is. If we can knock her out, this thing should hopefully go away.”

“Got it,” Anko replied, stepping forward with her sword trailing behind her.

The Leech further wrapped itself around its base, reinforcing the spot the duo aimed to strike.

“You should have kept your plan silent… You would have stood a better chance,” The leech muttered, several arms sprouting from its side.

“Probably,” Anko shrugged.

Taking off into a sprint, Anko smirked as the leech’s hands shot off towards her. Her Curse Mark pulse and she suddenly disappeared, reappearing in front of the leech, slamming her fist into its mask as she sliced it in half.

The leech was sent hurtling backwards. Grabbing onto the walls and floor, it skidded to a stop and immediately began crawling back towards its body, only to find that it was too late.

Shizune, having followed a few steps behind Anko, buried several sedative coated Senbon into the red haired girl whose body was partially unprotected.

“Sen…Sei,” The girl muttered, her glowing red eyes slowly returning to their original colour. Swaying, she collapsed to the floor as the leech-like creature dissolved into a black haze.

Nudging the girl with her foot, Anko relaxed when nothing happened. “That was… New. I’ve never fought anything like it before. Is it just me, or did it kind of behave like a…”

“Biju, yes,” Shizune nodded, once more inspecting the girl’s body. “Which would make this girl a Jinchuriki… although that creature’s Chakra isn’t originating from her body. From what I can tell, it’s flowing into her from somewhere else in this fortress. We should remove her from this place as soon as possible.”

“These Sky bastards really know how to mess with things that should be left alone,” Anko muttered under her breath.

…PTL…

Stepping through what felt like the umpteenth door, I found myself entering a large, circular room lined with stone ruins. A single stone throne was placed near the center, a large man with a body comparable to the Raikage sitting in it, leaning on his hand.

“Someone thinks highly of himself,” Kurama muttered. “Maybe you should take that throne of his. If you drill a hole in it, it would be a great replacement for a public restroom.”

I let out a snort of laughter at that. I would have to consider Kurama’s suggestion… Assuming the throne survived this confrontation.

“Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. You’ve done well to make it this far,” The man hummed, sitting up. “It’s fitting. The strongest weapon of Konoha has come to confront the leader of the Sky Nation, Shinnō.”

Getting off his throne, the man began to walk towards me. “Your Hokage made a mistake sending you here. I’ve already paid my debts, so killing you will no longer be an issue.”

“Debts?” I asked as he stopped directly in front of me.

“To the Akatsuki,” Shinnō explained. “What an interesting group of Shinobi. They retrieved a scroll with instructions on how to resurrect the Reibi and even helped by providing an… adequate fuel source from the Land of Fire,” He chuckled, before leaning forward. “You know why I’m telling you this… It’s because I know you won’t survive to see the end of today.”

There was a lot to unpack there, but the main thing that interested me was Shinnō’s mention of the Reibi. More specifically, how he resurrected it. Hagoromo had only created nine Biju, but it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to say that one had been artificially created.

Pseudo Jinchuriki did exist after all, perhaps the same could be said about pseudo Biju.

“If you’re so certain that I’m going to die…” I began. “Then you won’t mind telling me how you repaid your debts.”

“Hm, cheeky brat,” Shinnō smirked. “Very well, I’ll tell you. Their leader was gravely injured by some form of biological weapon and I brought him back from death's door.”

Not giving me any time to think on what he’d just said, Shinnō brought his palm down on me, a black ball of malevolent Chakra swirling in it.

Not one to back down, I met his attack head on with a Rasengan.

The ground beneath us broke and rumbled as our two techniques clashed, releasing a large amount of energy. Pushing forward, a loud wailing sounded throughout the chamber as Shinnō’s attack began to give way to my Rasengan.

Pulling back as my Rasengan made contact with his hand, Shinnō managed to avoid losing it entirely, not that it helped much.

Pressing my attack, I imbedded my fist into his gut, forcing all of the air out of his lungs as he doubled over. Stepping back, I settled in the Frog Kata stance without using Sage Mode.

Swiping one hand in front of his face, to distract him, my other fist landed a clean hit to his head, sending him tumbling backwards, coming to a stop only when he hit his throne.

While Shinnō might have the Raikage’s size and a speed similar to him without his Chakra cloak, he certainly didn’t have his reflexes or combat experience.

Shinnō laughed as he slowly stood back up, his muscles bulging and retracting as his wounds quickly faded. “Yes, this will prove to be a most adequate test… My dark Chakra versus the Kyuubi Jinchuriki!”

A familiar pressure began to flood the chamber, emanating from Shinnō’s body. Something problematic had just been born... A regenerator capable of using the 8 Gates.

Reaching towards my Kunai pouch, I was forced to dodge to the side as Shinnō appeared before me almost instantly. Blocking several high speed punches, I managed to catch one, straining to hold it in place.

“You’re capable of keeping up with me as I am now,” Shinnō nodded his respect. “But how will you handle this?”

The pressure around Shinnō’s body increased as he opened the fifth gate. Grabbing onto my wrist, he pulled me off my feet. Dark Chakra and pressure surrounded his palm as he landed a blow against my chest, sending my flying backwards.

Continuing his attack, Shinnō rushed towards the other side of the room and batted me to the side in a form reminiscent of when Lee fought Gaara.

Finishing his attack, he slammed a familiar orb of dark Chakra into my back, throwing me through one of the stone ruins, cratering the wall behind it with my body.

“Are you going to start taking this seriously?”

“In a minute,” I muttered aloud, pulling myself from the wall.

“Hoh, this is quite something,” Shinnō hummed as he flexed his hands. “I should have done this sooner. Each second my body is damaged by the gates and each second it’s repaired. I wonder how much stronger I will grow if I open the remaining gates.”

“Try it and find out,” I goaded him as I stepped through the destroyed ruin. Steam hissed from my wounds as they rapidly regenerated.

From what I was able to tell, he was burning through a significant portion of Chakra to continuously regenerate his wounds. The longer this fight continued, the less Shinnō would be able to regenerate.

“Hm, so you’re still alive,” Shinnō noted. “I suppose that much can be expected of the Kyuubi Jinchuriki.”

Taking a relaxed stance, I held my hand out to Shinnō. “Come.”

Darting forward, a dark sphere of Chakra formed in his hand, aimed at my head. Dodging to the side, I threw a strike that intentionally missed him, only for Shinnō’s head to snap backwards from my invisible strike.

Surprised by the blow, Shinnō attempted to overwhelm me with speed, but failed as I was now capable of keeping up with him. Landing several more heavy blows that he couldn’t see coming, Shinnō jumped back and took a familiar stance, attempting to force another gate open.

Launching myself forward, I clasped my hands together in a single seal and slammed it into Shinnō’s chest, before stepping back.

Wooden tendrils tore through Shinnō’s body and twisted together out his back, forming a tree that slowly continued to grow.

Mokuton was a terrifyingly versatile bloodline with very few limits. It had a capability to suppress even a Biju’s Chakra. There was, however, another function. It was also capable of absorbing Chakra.

As Shinnō fought to heal himself using his dark Chakra, the tree that was growing in him would drink that Chakra, using it to strengthen itself. From the look in his eyes, he had already realized what was happening.

“Mokuton… It was you,” He said, coughing up a mouthful of blood. “You were the one that wounded the Akatsuki’s leader, leaving him in such a state.”

“It wasn’t,” I answered truthfully. “He did that to himself.” Forming a Rasengan, I walked towards him, intending on finishing the fight. “I would tell you more, but… This is the end of the line.”

Snarling, Shinnō’s entire body fought against the roots that bound him, before he suddenly relaxed. “RELEASE FORMATION!”

“Shit!”

Golden Chakra engulfed my body as a wave of pressure and heat washed over the chamber, burning the tree that had been absorbing Shinnō’s Chakra to a crisp.

A red aura of evaporating blood surrounded Shinnō as he appeared in front of me, his fist raised to land a direct strike, only to falter at the last moment.

Redirecting the blow, a massive wave of force followed it, blowing a hole through the top of the room.

“We need to get outside where there’s more room!”

Agreeing, I darted through the newly formed hole at high speed, quickly making my way to the top of the fortress. The amount of pain the Eighth Gate caused was inhuman, but it would only stall Shinnō for a moment now that he had access to his dark Chakra once more.

Wasting no time, I emptied my Kunai pouch, littering them around the entire top of the fortress while sending a few far off into the distance. One even landed in the ocean.

This was going to get really dangerous. Forming a clone, I sent it off to collect the teams inside the fortress and take them somewhere safe, so they wouldn’t get caught up in the crossfire.

The fortress shuddered as Shinnō launched himself out of the hole, landing opposite me in a haze of red and black. The fortress shuddered once more.

It quickly became apparent that he was burning through a massive amount of dark Chakra in order to keep his body alive and healthy. It was at such a rate that he was now directly siphoning Chakra from the fortress, causing its instability.

He wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long.

Seeing Shinnō’s body tense, I immediately flashed to a nearby Kunai, avoiding his punch. Forming a massive Rasengan, I reappeared behind him and brought it down.

Turning, Shinnō battered it away with his bare hand. A cone of pure pressure formed around his fist as he brought it towards me.

Golden Chakra swelled around my arm as I lashed out with my own punch.

The air vibrated as a shockwave violently shook the floating fortress and even dissipated a few of the nearby clouds.

Seeing another incoming punch, I flashed towards a Kunai at the opposite end of the fortress, giving me enough time to finish mending the bones in my arm.

The Eighth Gate certainly wasn’t a joke. If Shinnō had been more skilled in using it, I would have ended up being seriously hurt there. Instead, I managed to get away with a shattered arm.

Feeling Shinnō’s Chakra begin to swell as he cupped his hands together, I plucked one of my Kunai off the ground and quickly cycled through several hand seals.

Shinnō’s Chakra briefly dipped as he launched a burning mass of dark Chakra and pressure my way.

Holding my Kunai out, the technique was absorbed by a barrier. Seeing that the Kunai near Shinnō had been blown away, I sent the technique to the bottom of the ocean.

There was a loud groan as the ocean bulged, before breaking, sending a massive amount of water into the air.

“It seems your clone managed to transport everyone out of the fortress,” Kurama informed. “He’s already started on the next part of your plan.”

Ocean water began to rain down on us as we silently stood, waiting for the other to make a move. Judging by how unstable the fortress had grown and Shinnō’s own apparent exhaustion, he was running low on Chakra.

Shinnō would need to end this soon if he wanted to survive the Eighth gate. That should make him a little more desperate and prone to making mistakes.

Clasping my hands together, the ground began to crack as hundreds of trees began to sprout, covering the top of the fortress in a dense forest.

Shinnō came barreling through, tearing through the trees as they latched onto him in a bid to absorb whatever Chakra they could.

“Well, Shinnō, it looks like this is it,” I called out, my voice sounding through the thick forest. “It’s been interesting fighting an Eight Gates user”

Shinnō managed to break through the trees just as my clone appeared next to me with one of its arms raised, a massive pitch black orb with a disk spinning around it hummed above us.

I flashed back to the ground just as my clone released its hold on the technique.

The Lightning Style Rasenshuriken was by far the most destructive technique with the widest range I had in my arsenal besides the Bijuudama. It was also the hardest to use as the lightning was difficult to control, especially when it was funneled into a Rasengan.

There was a low hum as the fortress began to vibrate. Large chunks of it began to break off as the Rasenshuriken inflated, destroying everything it came into contact with.

Shinnō threw himself off the crumbling fortress in a desperate attempt to escape, only for the Rasenshuriken to finally detonate. A massive wave of pure plasma engulfed his body, immediately overwhelming his healing factor.

The sky was lit up in a blinding flash and a deafening roar as thick bolts of lightning spread out across the horizon in a vibrating net like pattern, feeding into the net, annihilating everything they came into contact with.

Resembling a mirror that had been dropped, it looked as if the sky had shattered as the wave of plasma continued to spread across the horizon.