Naruto: The White Spider of the Leaf

The ground shook from the aftermath of the Tailed Beast Bomb, the air thick with the scent of burning earth. I stood there, eyes fixed on the horizon where the explosion had torn through the land. The sight of it—the devastation, the sheer power—was almost surreal. Our reinforcements never stood a chance.

My gaze turned to the two figures moving in the distance, the familiar silhouettes of the Jinchuuriki, the 4 and 5 Tails. Even without the full force of their Tailed Beasts unleashed, they were a significant threat. If they were in control, it could mean the difference between life and death.

I just couldn't help but stare at the two of them, my eyes narrowing in on Roshi and Han as they approached. 

The 4-Tails jinchuuriki, Roshi, was a towering figure—his resolve just as immovable as the stone walls of the Rock Village itself. Stories told of his hard-headedness, he sure looked the part, and I could feel his chakra seeping into the air, crackling with raw power. Despite that, I couldn't shake the feeling that behind those sharp eyes was a veteran shinobi who had seen the worst of battles, the kind of man who knew what it meant to carry a burden like the 4 tails. His chakra rolled around him like an unstoppable force, and I could just feel Son Gokū's immense presence beneath the surface.

Next to him, Han felt just as deadly. He was an imposing figure, even under the layers of his mask and wide-brimmed hat. The only thing visible were his sharp, piercing eyes that carried an unsettling calmness. His posture was relaxed, almost deceptively so, but the way he moved—fluid and confident—told a different story.

We were facing experienced fighters—Jinchuriki who had probably had a decade of control over their Beasts, and they knew how to use their power without letting it overwhelm them. This wasn't like facing an uncontrolled Jinchuriki. These two were in charge.

"We need to run." I said, gritting my teeth.

"We can't yet, if we do the rest of the leaf shinobi won't be able to retreat." Yukino said with a grimace.

I smiled wryly at her. "You think we can hold these guys off?"

"Honestly, no… But we have Minato's Flying Raijin. If things go south we can always escape."

"True, but–"

Jiraiya's sharp voice broke through our uncertain conversation. "We don't have much time. They'll be here soon, and we need to decide what to do."

"We hold them off." Minato affirmed. "We already lost the reinforcements, we can't lose our current forces here as well. I'll get us four out when the time comes."

I could feel my hands shaking, but I guess this was the price of being in a group of elites. You had to step up when the going got rough. "Alright, let's go with that then."

"Shirokumo, get into position. Set traps. Yukino, Minato, help me keep them contained. We'll engage when the time's right," Jiraiya commanded, his eyes narrowing at the figures approaching. "We can't let them close the gap too quickly. Once they're here, it's full force."

I nodded quickly, already pulling out my wire and kunai and rushing to get everything ready with a few shadow clones. With how swift I'd gotten at this, setting up the traps only ever took me seconds. I just needed to leave a clone to trigger them when needed.

Though, honestly the best these could do was slow them down briefly.

The wind picked up as I tossed kunai with wire into place, wrapping them around trees, boulders and jagged rock formations. The three shadow clones flitted around, their movements a blur as they helped position explosive tags near the pathways the Jinchuriki were most likely to take.

I looked back over my shoulder at Yukino, who was silently watching the approaching figures through the Byakugan. Her eyes were sharp, focused, but still, even with her extraordinary vision, I could see the unease in her posture.

As I finished adjusting the last of my traps, I glanced at Minato who was already at the front, preparing for the worst. His expression was unreadable, but the way his hand hovered over a kunai told me he was ready to act at a moment's notice. Jiraiya was alongside him, his usual carefree demeanor replaced with the steely focus of a seasoned commander.

The figures of the 4-Tails and 5-Tails Jinchuuriki were now unmistakably clear against the backdrop of the ruin we stood in. The 4-Tails Jinchuuriki—Roshi—was tall, built like a tank, his chakra flaring around him like a wild beast. The power simply radiated off him. Behind him, the 5-Tails Jinchuuriki—Han—looked calm but still deadly. He moved with a precise, almost methodical grace. Both were a formidable pair, and both were in control of their Tailed Beasts, which meant we couldn't afford to be sloppy.

The distance between us and the approaching Jinchuriki shrank with every heartbeat. My body tensed, my fingers itching to grab the kunai that hung from my waist. We weren't outnumbered, but we were most certainly outmatched. There was no denying that. Roshi and Han might still be young, but they've still had about a decade of experience with their Tailed Beasts, and now they stood before us, as dangerous as any threat we could ever face.

I couldn't let my nerves show. If I faltered, the team could be in real trouble.

I wiped the sweat off my brow, trying to keep my focus. The wind whipped around us, the remnants of the Tailed Beast Bomb still rising in plumes of smoke and dust. I could almost taste the pressure building as they walked towards us, the sense that at any moment, this battle could go from deadly to catastrophic.

"Get ready," Minato's voice broke through the tension. "We engage when they get within range. Jiraiya-sensei, do you have anything else in mind?"

Jiraiya didn't respond right away. His eyes never left the advancing figures. He seemed deep in thought, weighing his options. Finally, he spoke. "We hit them fast and hard with our best ninjutsu. We need to find an opening and capitalize on it before they can transform fully. Otherwise, we'll be fighting more than just them. At that point we leave immediately."

I nodded, my heart pounding in my chest. A part of me wondered if Jiraiya was simply trying to calm us, but I couldn't afford to second-guess him. He'd led us through bad situations before too.

The silence between us felt unnatural. The whole team was poised and ready, each of us sensing the weight of the moment.

As the two Rock Jinchuurki arrived some fifty meters away from us, Roshi spoke first, his deep voice carrying across the distance. "This is your last chance. Stand down and leave. You don't want to face us."

His words were like thunder, rolling through the ruins. Han didn't say anything, but the subtle shift in his posture told me he was just as prepared as Roshi to engage. They weren't going to back down. And we couldn't afford to either.

Jiraiya stepped forward, his usual nonchalance gone. "Sad to say, but we don't have that luxury. I'm sure you good folks understand that."

I felt the pressure intensify as the tension reached its breaking point. Roshi and Han both flared their chakra in response to Jiraiya's words. The air thickened, as if the environment itself was readying for the violence to come.

Roshi sighed. "I was being courteous because you're with a group of juniors. But I see today, we must take the lives of children."

"Shirokumo," Jiraiya's voice cut through the chaos, snapping me back into the moment. "Prepare the first wave. Minato, Yukino—get ready to support. We hit them fast."

I, or my clones in this case, didn't waste any time. My shadow clones positioned themselves around the area. The traps we'd set were still in place, and now it was time to activate them. My clone got ready to pull the wire and trigger the trap that Roshi and Han were moving towards. It would only slow them down, but that was enough. If we could stop their momentum just for a few seconds, it could make all the difference.

The moment Roshi and Han stepped into range, the clone flicked the trigger with its fingers. The string jumped to wrap around them as Kunai dropped and embedded themselves into the ground, the explosive tags lit up the area in an instant. A deafening explosion erupted, followed by a thick smoke that surged into the sky. The force of the explosion sent a small shockwave rippling through the air.

But, of course, it didn't do much to slow them down.

Roshi's massive form crashed through the smoke like a tidal wave, his chakra surging forward, and I saw Han's calm expression flicker for the briefest moment before he was already moving alongside him, both covered in their respective chakra cloaks.

Roshi and Han didn't even flinch from that trap.

"Let's hit them with everything all at once!" Yukino called out as she started doing a long series of hand seals, her fingers moving in a blur. 

I could feel the air shift around her, her concentration was razor-sharp, the Byakugan glowing faintly. I could see the rain above us begin to gather around her, a tangible reflection of the energy she was drawing in.

At the same time, Jiraiya and Minato stood side by side, their coordination flawless as always. Minato's gaze flicked to Jiraiya, wordlessly signaling him to move. Jiraiya didn't waste a second and made a series of his own hand seals. His body surged with chakra as he inhaled deeply and unleashed a great breath of intense, blazing fire. A torrent of searing flames erupted from his lungs, scorching the earth and air around us with enough intensity to evaporate the rain before it could even land. The blaze surged toward Roshi and Han, its heat unbearable even from a distance.

Minato was right there with him, his fingers making swift signs as he channeled wind chakra. The resulting wind gusted around us, whipping Jiraiya's flames higher and faster, adding more fuel to the firestorm as it roared toward the Jinchuriki. The intense heat stung my skin, it was the combined efforts of Jiraiya and Minato's Fire style and Wind style!

But when it connected, the two Jinchuriki barely even broke stride.

Roshi's massive form surged forward, chakra cloak flaring like a storm, and Han was at his side, eerily calm, but just as resolute. I could feel their chakra wrapping around them like an impenetrable shield, pushing through the flames with brutal force. They were nothing short of monsters, unstoppable even in the face of such a vicious onslaught.

Then Yukino's voice cut through the chaos—low and steady, like a warning. "Now, Shiro!"

Her hands snapped into place as she finished her hand seals, 44 of them in total. 

The drops of rain gathered from the storm above and hung in the air around her, they shimmered with an unnatural energy, swirling as she focused, the very rain pausing in mid-air. I could feel the tension crackling between us.

Then, in one fluid motion, the gathered water exploded out in the form of a massive, serpentine dragon, roaring with raw power. But it wasn't just water. It shimmered with her energy—every drop now imbued with her chakra. It was a force of nature, as if the storm itself had decided to fight back.

I didn't hesitate. My hands were already moving through their own sequence of seals. Electric chakra surged through me, my palms buzzing with static as I sent a violent jolt of electricity toward Yukino's dragon. The moment the current passed through it, the dragon seemed to crackle and shimmer brighter, as if empowered by my own energy. I grinned despite myself. The timing was perfect.

The dragon roared and surged forward, launching itself at the Jinchuriki. It hit them alongside the firestorm from Jiraiya and Minato, slamming into them full force. The two techniques collided in the air, an explosion of fire and water, blinding and deafening. The heat of the flames met the coolness of the water, and the electric current surged through the dragon, enhancing its force.

The impact sent intense shockwaves across the land we were in, and the rain halted for a time. The earth seemed to tremble under the combined assault, and the air crackled with the aftershocks of chakra. Roshi and Han, despite their immense power, were staggered by the successive waves of force. Their chakra cloaks flickered briefly as the fire raged around them and the dragon twisted through the air like a living weapon, striking with the full force of our combined techniques.

But they didn't fall.

Roshi grunted, his chakra surging as he pushed forward, ripping apart the water dragon jutsu and Han, though thrown back momentarily, righted himself with a chilling calmness. They were still standing, still a threat.

The ground beneath us began to crumble—whatever was left of it after the earlier destruction—and I realized we were running out of time.

"Fall back!" Jiraiya's voice cut through the haze, sharp and commanding.

We didn't need to be told twice. We just all dove toward the twenty-meter-deep ravine that had been torn open by the passing Tailed Beast Bomb earlier which devoured our reinforcements and gathered in the shadow of the ravine. Our breaths came in sharp, shallow bursts, the adrenaline still coursing through our veins. It wasn't enough. It was never enough.

I glanced up, the weight of what I saw almost physically pulling me down.

Roshi and Han were standing tall above us now, their forms unnervingly calm as their chakra cloaks solidified into the grotesque, monstrous shapes of their Tailed Beasts. Son Gokū and Kokuō. The 4-Tails and 5-Tails. Their heads loomed over us, massive, translucent constructs made entirely of chakra, as if the beasts themselves were manifesting in mid-air. The sight was enough to take the breath right out of your chest. A shimmering aura of power radiated from them, making it hard to focus, like staring directly at the sun.

Roshi stood in the open maw of the 4-Tails, the great beast's teeth like jagged cliffs surrounding him. His posture was the picture of arrogance, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, as if he were daring us to make the next move. His chakra radiated outward, forming an almost tangible presence around him, a palpable weight. I could feel it in my chest, in my bones—the pure rawness of it.

Beside him, Han stood, almost serenely in the mouth of the 5-Tails. The monstrous creature's eyes gleamed with eerie intelligence, the chakras swirling around it like a storm, waiting for the moment to strike. Han's stance was just as calm as before, but the aura around him, just like Roshi, was unmistakably dangerous.

The beasts' mouths began to crackle with raw energy, swirling with chakra, and I knew exactly what they were preparing.

Tailed Beast Bombs.

The two massive orbs of chakra began to take form above the beasts' heads, swirling, building in intensity with every passing second. I could hear the hum of their power, vibrating through the air, like the impending roar of a storm that was about to break. Each one was a weapon of mass destruction, capable of obliterating entire villages in the blink of an eye. And now, it seemed, they were about to be aimed directly at us.

I swallowed, my throat dry despite the rain, and felt the instinctive panic rise in my chest, but I forced it down. The odds were always stacked against us, but we couldn't afford to show weakness. Not now. Not with the end of the line so near.

"Minato," Jiraiya said, his voice steady, though his expression was grim, "they're preparing tailed beast bombs again! It's time to retreat!"

"Yes, sir!" Minato said and went to the front, preparing the hand seal.

The Tailed Beast bombs were forming faster now, the air crackling with intensity. Roshi and Han's expressions never wavered, their focus entirely on their creations. The air grew heavier, the ground itself seemed to shudder as their chakra began to coalesce even further. The Tailed Beasts' chakra-infused forms began to roar, a terrifying sound that sent a cold shiver down my spine. The bombs were nearly complete. One moment away from being unleashed.

This wasn't going to be a fight anymore.

It was just about survival.

The ground beneath my feet trembled as if the very earth itself was aware of the calamity that was about to unfold. My heart hammered in my chest, each beat sounding louder than the last, a steady drum in my ears. I could feel the weight of the moment pressing down on me, the oppressive weight of the chakra-infused air, crackling and pulsing like a storm ready to break. The Tailed Beast Bombs—massive, destructive forces of nature—hung above us now, swirling with raw energy, ready to unleash devastation on everything in their path.

Roshi's bellow cut through the tension like a blade, a taunting, mocking challenge to us all. "If you plan to fight on even footing against us... You should have brought the nine-tails jinchuuriki!"

I swallowed hard, but the dryness in my throat made it difficult to breathe. It was too much. Too much to fight against. Then in a flash, Minato was there, his face set in grim determination, his fingers forming the familiar hand signs.

"Hold on!" Minato shouted over his shoulder, his voice calm but urgent.

I didn't need to be told twice. We all grabbed Minato by the shoulders, preparing ourselves for the violent jump through space that would take us far from the danger. But the air, the ground, everything seemed to throb with impending doom as I felt the Tailed Beast Bombs reach their apex. I could feel the energy—pulsing, boiling, ready to rupture and burn.

Then, with a deafening roar, the bombs were released.

The ground beneath us cracked open in an instant, a wave of energy so powerful that the air itself seemed to recoil from the force. The light of the bombs—pure, blinding, brilliant—split the sky above us. It was as if the heavens themselves were being torn asunder. The air was filled with an ear-splitting crackle, the sky glowing with the intensity of the blasts, and I could feel the heat radiating from the explosion, even from the safety of our position.

In the next instant, the world around me blurred. The wind roared in my ears, and the unmistakable tug of teleportation gripped my body. I felt my stomach lurch, the sensation of space twisting, bending, and stretching around me as the world around us shifted.

And then, we were gone.

I blinked, disoriented for a moment, and found myself standing several kilometers away, the familiar landscape of the ravine now a distant memory. We had made it.

But the blast… the explosion we had narrowly escaped… I could still feel it.

I turned my head, my eyes drawn to the horizon. The explosion was a monstrous pillar of light, rising into the sky like a second sun, the force of it pushing the clouds away, searing the sky itself. The shockwave rolled across the land, a force that seemed to stretch endlessly, rippling outward from the point of impact. The sheer scale of it was impossible to comprehend—an explosion that dwarfed anything I had ever seen before.

The shockwave struck us with the force of a heavy wind, knocking dust and debris into the air, but we were safe. For now.

I could hear the distant rumble of the explosion echoing in my ears, the sound slowly fading as the light of the blast dimmed. My heart was still racing, the adrenaline still pumping through my veins. 

We survived. But the cost...

I couldn't stop the feeling that we had just narrowly escaped death. And in the back of my mind, the haunting thought lingered—how many others hadn't made it out?

The forest and land there were no more. The very earth had been shattered by the sheer magnitude of those Tailed Beast Bombs.

I took a deep breath, feeling the cool air fill my lungs, trying to steady myself. But I couldn't ignore the weight of the situation pressing down on me.

This was a reality check.

We were still alive—but how am I ever supposed to even approach that level of power?

…