Will of embers

Chapter 13

The field was empty. Only grass on the ground and trees by the sides grew. But Hiruzen could feel them beneath him. The fear overwhelmed Hiruzen, and he honestly didn't know how he was able to handle it and still stay calm. Fugaku's eyes were glowing red in the dark as he observed the field. Jiraiya was kneeling on the ground, trying to feel something.

"There are faint traces of footsteps," Fugaku reported and pointed to where the footsteps started and ended. "But they too faint to track them to the entrance."

"The ground is soft," Jiraiya added, "It must be close, as this ground was dug up recently."

"Below us," Hiruzen said, his eyes bloodshot. "They are straight below us."

"Hokage-sama?" Kakashi tried to get Hiruzen's attention but failed.

"There is no need to keep the seal activated anymore, sensei," Jiraiya quickly discovered what Hiruzen was using to find the children. "It is my turn."

Hiruzen didn't even consider deactivating the seal before Jiraiya mentioned it. As Hiruzen started to calm down, Jiraiya drew a seal on the ground. Infusing his chakra into the seal, the ground shook for a moment before stopping. Fugaku was the first one to notice change in the field. With quick movements, he came to the place where the ground rose a bit.

"The entrance," Fugaku reported as he looked back at the others. "Should we wait for reinforcements?"

"No," Hiruzen replied as he looked at Fugaku, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and two ANBU members with him. "We are moving in."

With a nod, Jiraiya knelt at the entrance before slamming down his palm, breaking through the ground into an underground cavern. Quickly, everyone jumped in. Fugaku took the lead from thereon, and the others followed as the head of the Uchiha clan made sure there were no traps. With each step, Hiruzen grew more concerned about the children's safety.

They quickly travestied through the dark tunnel of the cavern. It took a lot of control from Hiruzen not to rush in at first as he saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Soon, he could hear restrained crying. Fugaku looked at Hiruzen as they neared the end of the tunnel, waiting for orders. Hiruzen looked at his ANBU and nodded for them to move in first.

"You have found me, sensei," Orochimaru's calm voice resonated through the spacious room in front of them. "I thought I had more time. I shouldn't have underestimated you. Too bad I was so close to reaching the desired results, too. A few, no, a day more, and I would have achieved what no one else was able."

Hiruzen looked at countless testing tubes filled with humans. Among them were also children no older than ten. Chill ran through his back as Hiruzen saw most of them having various deformities. But all of them shared hollow eyes that were staring at nothing. The children that were kidnapped today were huddled together, hugging each other as various vires connected to them.

"Fugaku, Kakashi, have you memorized the layout of the room?" Hiruzen asked, ignoring Orochimaru for a moment and waiting for the nods. "I will provide cover; I want you two to take the children away, all of them, as fast as possible. The rest of us will keep Orochimaru preoccupied."

"I am hurt, sensei," Orochimaru overheard Hiruzen talk and responded by standing before the children and them. "You should prepare to forsake everyone else if you want to take me down. Otherwise, you will only give me a chance to escape."

"Just stop it already!" Jiraiya looked more hurt than anyone else. "Haven't you done enough? For fuck's sake, just surrender and save some dignity as shinobi of Konoha."

"Dignity and pride only hold people back," Orochimaru replied, drawing his sword with one hand and preparing hand signs with another. "I am beyond these kinds of feelings. I seek higher grounds than you can imagine, Jiraiya."

"Genjutsu: Bringer of Darkness technique," Hiruzen didn't let Orochimaru use his jutsu first. He brought his hands together and engulfed the room in pure darkness.

A whisper of footsteps was heard as Hiruzen hoped that Fugaku and Kakashi would be fast enough to get the children out before they started throwing ninjutsu at each other. But Hiruzen didn't wait for his jutsu to end. He quickly made three shadow clones and spread them around the room. Even Hiruzen couldn't tell what was happening, as it was as silent as it was dark.

'What now?' Hiruzen asked himself in his head. When he saw the children, a plan quickly formed in his head about how to get them to safety, but now, he had no idea what to do. Should he move? Maybe it was better to stay in the place, as nobody would expect him to stay still. His anger quickly subsided and was replaced by cold fear.

The thought that he was going to die ran in his head over and over again. This wasn't a game, it wasn't a dialogue he could bullshit his way out, it was a real fight. A fight against Orochimaru, one of the most skilled shinobi in the world. One mistake, and he will be killed. And by this point, how many mistakes did he make? He could feel fear creeping up on him and swallowing him whole.

'No!' Hiruzen yelled in his head and bit down on his lip. It was fine; Jiraiya was with him, and Orochimaru could see as much as Hiruzen could, and that was nothing. If he stayed still, not even breathing, Orochimaru won't be able to hear him, and he won't be able to attack him. As Hiruzen started to think of what to do next, he heard, or maybe he felt a footstep next to him.

If not for months of training his emotions and reactions to things happening around him, Hiruzen would have let out at least a pathetic yelp. But the footstep passed by him. It was Fugaku or Kakashi carrying the children away. Knowing it would only give Orochimaru an advantage since he knew this place better than anyone else, Hiruzen stopped using his jutsu and returned the room to normal.

Immediately, Hiruzen widened his eyes as he found countless shuriken and kunai surrounding him. If he had taken even one step in any direction, he would have died. He quickly pushed that thought deep into his mind as he buried his hands into his cloak, took out handfuls of shuriken, and looked in front of him.

Hiruzen didn't know how many seconds had passed; was it ten or fifty? But it shouldn't have gone more than that. Orochimaru was in hand-to-hand combat with Jiraiya, and neither was losing. At least, that was what it seemed to Hiruzen. He didn't move from his position and continued to observe; maybe he wouldn't even need to interfere and could let Jiraiya take care of Orochimaru.

Of course, he cursed his wishful thinking as both of them disengaged the moment he thought of that. What now? He had nothing he could use. Well, there was something he had been working on for a while now, so it wasn't like he couldn't do anything. But how effective could it be? He never tested it, and doing anything might put him in danger.

"Very good," Orochimaru said, and he didn't sound like he was pushed into the corner like Hiruzen hoped he would. "I expect nothing less from you, sensei. This whole time, you haven't moved from your spot, making sure to block my path and protect the backs of those Uchiha, well, one and a half Uchiha. But you don't need to worry about them. They are already all dead or will die soon, so you don't need to hold off your ninjutsu in fear of harming them."

Orochimaru pointed at the countless bodies in the test tubs, completely misunderstanding Hiruzen's intentions. Still, since he was called out, Hiruzen couldn't just stay silent and do nothing. He threw his shuriken at Orochimaru. His clones, who were at different corners of the room, did the same. He didn't know how good his advanced level of shurikenjutsu was, but at least he was able to hit the target he aimed at, even if that target could dodge them easily or deflect them with his sword.

"Jiraiya, get back," Hiruzen said, and his student listened.

"What this?" Orochimaru asked, not looking very impressed. "Have you gone too senile? Even children would give me more of a challenge. No, it couldn't be that."

"Exactly," Hiruzen said, giving his best impression of an old and wise man. "Your arrogance is your downfall, Orochimaru. You are too keen on looking down on others. Release."

The shuriken Hiruzen threw were made of paper. That paper held explosive seals he had been making ever since he learned how to make them. And now they were surrounding Orochimaru. With one hand sign and one word. They all exploded simultaneously. It was a smaller explosion than Hiruzen expected, but the room wasn't too big, and a stronger explosion might have collapsed the ceiling.

"My arrogance?" And, of course, Orochimaru took the explosion and didn't look any worse than before. "No, I don't deserve to be arrogant; unlike you, I don't know every single jutsu that was created in Konoha. I do not possess any bloodline or dojutsu, and my time is limited. Can't you feel it, too, sensei? The limits of your body. Of your age. What if I told you I could break that limitation we humans have? I am so close. Close to reaching immortality."

"Eternal Youth and Immortality Technique?" Jiraiya caught up to what Orochimaru was talking about. "You talked about it many times before. Is this all because of that? All these innocent people and children have died because of that?"

"Calm down, Jiraiya," Hiruzen couldn't let Jiraiya lose his head, but it didn't look like his words were reaching him. "Support Jiraiya."

Hiruzen quickly ordered the ANBU, who stayed behind so far, as he saw Jiraiya jump at Orochimaru with rage in his eyes. Hiruzen couldn't let Jiraiya lose, no matter what. He was the only hope; Hiruzen had to win against Orochimaru, at least until Fugaku returned. Hopefully, Fugaku didn't run back the whole way to the village and only made sure the children were safe, as Hiruzen doubted he could stop Orochimaru for long.

Jiraiya's attacks were relentless, but it seemed Orochimaru had an easier time dodging them than previously. It wasn't good. It seemed that Jiraiya would only snap out of it when he was hit. And Orochimaru continued to gloat Jiraiya. Hiruzen didn't know what he should do; if he moved from his position, Orochimaru would see it as him letting him go. The last thing, apart from death, Hiruzen wanted was for Orochimaru to escape.

'Common, Fugaku, Kakashi, hurry up.' Hiruzen prayed in his head as he saw Orochimaru disarm one of the ANBU's swords and injure another while still managing to evade Jiraiya. Hiruzen had no choice but to send his shadow clones to distract Orochimaru. But before they could even make it to Orochimaru, the bastard summoned snakes from his sleeves, destroying them.

It felt horrible not being able to do anything. But he couldn't act like a helpless old man. He had perfect chakra control, so even if it was reckless and untested, Hiruzen could only think of imitating Tsunade. Control his chakra into his arms and fists and just punch things. Like the ground, and then take a slap of concrete that the floor was made of and he loosened and flings it at Orochimaru.

Surprisingly, it worked quite well. Too bad; rather than hitting Orochimaru, he hit Jiraiya, knocking him back. But maybe that was for the best, as Hiruzen saw that Orochimaru's sword was now in the place where Jiraiya was a mere moment ago. So, it seemed that he at least managed to save Jiraiya from a stab wound. Now, he only needed to wait for someone to save him as Orochimaru was running towards him with his sword raised.

'Okay, you have two seconds to think of something and do something.' Hiruzen was fucked. In the last ditch effort to preserve his life, he tried to use a jutsu, any jutsu. He had memorized plenty of hand signs of ninjutsu, so even if he never used them before, with his perfect chakra control, how hard it would be to make a fireball?

As he came to find out, it was impossible, especially when he felt the fire rise to his throat, he almost choked, and his concentration faltered, canceling it immediately. He really should move right now. Too bad his legs didn't listen as Orochimaru was now right before him. His hands were still clasped, making a hand sign as Orochimaru stabbed him.

The sword went through his forearm and pierced his right shoulder. As much as Hiruzen wanted to scream in fear and pain, he gnashed his teeth together and quickly analyzed the situation he was in. He was alive. His injuries weren't life-threatening. And he was close to the village where he would be quickly treated. It was time to use his strength stats.

"Caught you," Hiruzen said. He grabbed Orochimaru's neck with his left hand and squeezed as hard as he could. Seeing that Hiruzen wouldn't let him go even after punching his arm multiple times, he quickly tried to weave multiple hand signs. Hiruzen didn't let him finish and slammed him to the ground with all his strength.

"Ugh," Orochimaru groaned as he spat a glob of blood from his mouth, and Hiruzen continued to hold Orochimaru in place. "You couldn't do it. You had a perfect opportunity to finish me. But you couldn't finish your jutsu. You couldn't kill me, even after all I have done."

"It goes the same for you," Hiruzen played along, not wanting to admit that he failed to use his jutsu. "You didn't go for my heart. It was a perfect moment for you to finish me. But you hesitated and changed the trajectory of your sword at the last moment."

"You always were one step ahead of me," Orochimaru chuckled as he tried to push the sword still in Hiruzen's forearm and shoulder to push him away. But Hiruzen's strength seemed to be superior to Orochimaru's. "You couldn't let me go, but you knew you wouldn't be able to kill me, so you used your own body to stop me. You knew I wouldn't be able to kill you, and that would give you an opportunity to stop me without killing me. Clever as always, sensei."

"I didn't know you if you would kill me."

"What? Then why did…"

"Orochimaru!" Orochimaru didn't finish his question as Jiraiya slammed his fist it Orochimaru's face, cracking the ground under him and knocking Orochimaru down for good. "Fuck. Sensei, are you alright?"

"Take the sword out," Hiruzen knew it would hurt, and that is why he knew he wouldn't be able to do it himself. Having a sword piercing through two parts of his body wasn't comfortable, and it looked ridiculous. He had an image to uphold, and having his right arm stuck by his shoulder wasn't any way he could present himself to Fugaku or Kakashi.

"Are you sure? Maybe we should go to the hospital first," Jiraiya looked uncomfortable.

"Just do it already."

Hiruzen's teeth probably received the most damage as he gnashed them to suppress his scream. Jiraiya quickly pulled the sword out of his body. Hiruzen made a mental note never to get stabbed again. It hurt more than getting hit by a car, and pulling the sword hurt even more. At least it was done quickly, and Hiruzen didn't pass out.

"Hokage-sama," Fugaku arrived late.

"Secure Orochimaru," Hiruzen quickly ordered. He would not forgive them if Orochimaru managed to escape after everything he had to endure. "How are the children?"

"Safe, but Orochimaru had planned for them to be rescued, or he simply was going to use them as hostages, as multiple seals were on them. Kakashi and I managed to remove the seals, so no damage was done to them. My apologies that it took too long."

"It would have been fine if a certain fool didn't lose his head in a critical moment," Hiruzen replied, staring daggers at Jiraiya, who almost fucked him over.

Jiraiya looked away from Hiruzen and quickly went to Orochimaru's body, making sure he wouldn't be able to escape. Hiruzen was too tired himself as he escaped death by length of hair. It was way too close. And it gave Hiruzen quite a wake-up call. He needed to get stronger and fast. Otherwise, he will be as helpless as now next time. And with his luck, there will definitely be a next time.

"Hokage-sama," The useless ANBU came back to Hiruzen's side. "We found another boy in a different room. He was among the corpses, but as we checked them, the boy had a faint pulse."

"What are you waiting for then? Bring him to Tsunade!"

'Seriously, can't they do anything without me telling them?' Hiruzen was in a really bad mood as Fugaku helped him stop the bleeding. At least it was now truly over. And even though he hated the intense ringing in his head, the messages that appeared before his eyes were quite pleasing to his eyes.

A.N. As always, If you want more, up to seven advanced chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852. And if you have any requests for stories, I will only take them on my pa treon.