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Imagine a typical house of worship maybe a white cathedral with golden accents presenting a sense of welcome and belonging, the participants singing calming notes and all enjoying fellowship in the name of their deity... This is the polar opposite of the grand hall in which the pious assassins are currently in; walls that go up into a pitch black void, decorated with an ichorous rust colored fluid. Both ends of the great hall held massive door like constructs but the one that held the importance of this exact moment had five large markings etched at the lower and upper corners while the last one marked the very door. Each one was a different color with the yellow one being at the lower left portion of the door and resembling an insect wing. To the opposite of it was a brownish razor tipped horn. They both began began to glow their respective colors as none other than Mistress Culina walked up to the door with a flowing black gown that had red slash accents. “My children of the darkness, today we gather here to bring the reformation of the world!” As the crowd ahead of her cheered the next two markings, a set of scales and a single talon, began to glow blue and white respectively. As the crowd grew more raucous a group on an overlooking balcony was silently dispatched by a pair of dysfunctional cousins. The shinobi looked over the railing to see the last seal of three red slash marks glow. “May our liberation be brought by his love!”

Kizura and Zeko grunted as they vaulted over the rail and leapt down to interrupt the ritual. “I’ll put you down quick you crazy bit-“ The two froze in the air, a malicious aura surrounding them with the source being Culina’s horn.

“And right on time, my special guests for this turning point. I welcome the hooman who made this possible.” Zeko’s look of pure ‘excuse you?’ Prompted Culina to elaborate. “This ritual would have taken another century had you not shown up, our normal suits can absorb mana from attacks but you’ve been overcharging them with how much raw power you display. None of our failures to capture you have truly been failures, but now the last piece to allow Apoxis to stand unrivaled is here... KILL THE OTHERS!” Kizura was ejected from the aura while the rest of the shinobi started their assault on the fodder assassins.

“What makes you think I’ll stand by idly while my friends are tearing it up wildly?” Culina smirked as darkness seeped from her horn and formed a ring around Zeko before it turned into a pillar that engulfed him right as he dropped free of the mana field he was encased in. “It sucks that she’s the strongest but this is her best? I’m dissatisfied in your act so I hope-“ He didn’t get to finish as a hand grasped his back and pulled away with a white wisp

Culina pulled the wisp to her mouth and swallowed it whole. “Being blessed by Apoxis helps my hunger for the souls of the blind, now I’ll make sure your friends follow-“ She started coughing mid sentence but it wouldn’t calm down. “A white soul was rare enough but-“ Another fit of coughing broke her monologue, but this time she hacked up something coarse that ripped her throat as it left. “S-Sand?!” Her cheeks puffed and she started to vomit sand but her pain wasn’t done there, as soon as it left her the sand began to encase her body until she was nothing but a worm in a cocoon of sand.

“The information was misleading, but nobody will be grieving. I guess it didn’t mean combat strength for her. I can see how she’d be the most dangerous, since I can manipulate souls I got out of that but literally anyone else would’ve been done for.” Zeko extended and closed his hand, ending the pagan devotee.

No sooner than when the sand burial was completed did the darkness around Zeko drop revealing the massive room to be laden with bodies, none of which were his comrades, but the most notable detail was that the massive door was cracking with deep red energy peering through the fractures. The second most noticeable detail were the two very familiar figures in front of the door, one of which was kneeling down facing the dwindling crowd.

“Long time no see... Me.” The voice was none other than Zukako who knelt beside a still severely crippled Kanek who had a wide grin on his cracked beak. “I’m glad you could drop in with all your friends, you see I figured something-“

“Why are there two of Zeko?!” Kizura came up to Zeko’s side to question why she was seeing double. But Zukako spared her question no time.

“As I was saying I figured something out about myself, and it’s funny how I’m not even a jinchuriki but I have the sand at my side.” As he said this a pillar rose in front of him to catch the volley of shuriken that came at him that was courtesy of Kotetsu. The door behind them exploded in a shower of light. A large serpentine figure burst through and coiled around the room until the building couldn’t take its size anymore and the foundation began to crack as the being expanded. As the group of shinobi and even the remaining assassins stopped their fights as the figure grew and became more detailed, massive ridges formed on its back and it grew what looked like arms near its massive head. The being continued to grow even as the roof was torn off and the blue sky was revealed.

“Uh guys, weren’t we underground?” Nouka asked while Jenki’s eyes intensified with pulsing veins around them. Soil and rubble falling in from above them.

He was surprised to see that as the figure grew so did its power until it started leveling out. As it’s power reached a climax it’s body stopped glowing and the light was replaced by scales that were as dark as night, its forelimbs ended with digits that had claws that looked as if they could cut through the strongest metals. The last formed detail was the most intimidating to the five person team that moved outside of the collapsed base and that was the piercing red eyes with dark slits that stared directly at them. “We have no room for mistakes! This thing is above tailed beast level!” Jenki exclaimed as his hands coated in blue chakra.

“All out from the start? What the hell have you guys been up to?” Kizura questioned as orange chakra leaked from her skin, forming ears and a tail behind her.

Kotetsu’s eyes shifted from their regular tomoe to their linked form as a shadowy aura surrounded him. “And here you made fun of me for trying to befriend the fox.”

Nouka formed a clay dragon and leapt onto its back. “I’m ready to make some art!”

“You can’t just become the jinchuriki of the nine tails by hunting him down Kotetsu.” Zeko clasped his hands together as his pupils turned to stars and his iris turned yellow. Giant sand claws erupted from the ground and bound the gargantuan snake from moving.

“And you’ve made my work easier...” Zeko heard his doppelgänger say from the destroyed building as a formation of seals around the bound serpent and trapped it but that was the beginning as it began to glow again.

Realization flashed over Zeko and Kizura’s eyes, they both flashed through hand seals to form a jutsu to stop what Zukako was doing. “Fire style: Sapphire Blaze!” A blue ball of fire with black accents coursed towards Zukako

“Sand dragon!” A serpentine figure that resembled the rapidly shrinking deity burst from the ground and charged towards the target but the attacks were both cut off by a formation of black clouds.

If a grin could break a face then Kanek would be injured even further from how wide he smiled. “Can’t have you interrupting the bonding!” With a wave of Morsus the shinobi leapt back to dodge the oncoming lightning bolts. In that short period the glow had finally been absorbed into Zukako to the anger of Zeko. The light shrunk down to accommodate his body, he floated upwards into the view of everything that was still alive as the light began to dim. Zukako’s body began to change as the light vanished, he grew scales that ran from his torso to his face. Two sharp, ridge like bones, broke through his back as his waist sprouted a gown-like growth that went to his knees. His skin changed to accommodate his appearance, turning ash gray as his transformation finished.

“How does it feel to be in the presence of God?” He brought a hand up to emphasize his statement and once he did the earth began to shake as a mountain began to rise from the earth, splitting the group as they each avoided the crags that emerged from below them.

“Remember our deal Zukako, you promised to heal me if I helped you rise to godhood.” Kanek moved closer as a smile still adorned his face, while Zukako looked at him with complete apathy. “Don’t just stand there, fix me!” He repurposed the pitch black sword as a cane and hit the ground to show his point.

Zukako eyed the weapon for a second only to hold his hand out and Morsus immediately recognized its new master once he did. “Something for something, that is the law of equivalent exchange.” Before Kanek could object Zukako formed a ball of light in his hand and planted it into Kanek’s chest, immediately allowing him to stand up straight as his body began to recover from its crippled state. His feathers darkened and his talons sharpened as he fully recovered front he damage dealt to him many months ago.

“I feel better than ever! I could rise to the heavens like this!” He extended an arm to a rising rock formation ahead of himself and fired a bolt of lightning at the boulder, blasting it to pieces.

As Kanek marveled at his newfound power, Zukako coiled Morsus around his right forearm and brought a hand to his covered eye socket, a light emanated from his palm as and as he withdrew the hand he removed the covering allowing his vision to become whole once more. “Not what I had before but better than nothing at all.” He clasped his hands together and brought a massive amount of sand from the ground, he shifted his hands through a number of seals before landing on ram. As the shinobi reached the summit of the newly formed mountain they began to slide down and see what the host of the godly being was doing, and to see a mass of sand was bad enough but to see figures rising from it and taking shape was even worse.

“Anyone else starting to think that this went from zero to a thousand really fucking quick?!” Kotetsu exclaimed as the figures took shape and resembled Zeko in his sand demon form without the crimson chakra leaking through, meaning they were all completely sand. “He’s not even done!” They looked back to Zukako and saw him raising a changeling and a Minotaur from the dead, their eyes dark and their faces blank until they both inhaled and took in their surroundings and realized they were alive again.

As the enemy bolstered themselves, the shinobi had a team huddle to asses how to survive the situation they were in. “So we all tasted how much power other me was putting out right?” Nods all around. “This isn’t gonna be easy so-“

“Hang on...” Kizura interjected. “Why do we have to deal with this? We can just leave through Kotetsu’s eye.” Everyone but Zeko and Kotetsu seemed to agree and for a moment thought it was better to flee entirely.

“The hell you say? Who’s to say this asshole won’t come into our world? I’m not letting a discount Uchiha ruin my wedding!”

“Yeah, anyway I noticed that his body isn’t fully merged with that snake, no, that dragon... He keeps spiking that energy to keep up appearances but I wouldn’t call him any god just yet.”

Jenki pondered was his eyes remained locked in place. “I might have a way to seal some of his chakra away, I’ve been practicing a new coarse fist move.” Zeko nodded and the group broke up to look back at the scene and notice the legion of sand demons approaching the mountain.

“So should I start bombing them into glass?” Nouka had his dragon on standby, ready to start his artillery fire but a howling sound tore their attention towards the summit they had descended and allowed them to see a large amount of blue eyed Timberwolves emerging and running down the mountain, but these Timberwolves were more wolf-like. Narrower snouts, actual paws of wood instead of blocks and more lupine bodies.

“Well let’s divide and conquer!” The shinobi leapt in different directions to start the assault.

‘Never thought I’d be fighting a bug-horse person!’ Kizura thought as she clashed with the changeling. “So do you have any tricks or is this gonna be an execution?” Kizura questioned as the two backed away from each other’s attacks.

“Well I’m Omma, I like long walks on the beach and killing you.” She finished with a smile as her hands shifted into blades, she rushed the blonde and swung but only met claws.

Kizura smirked as her chakra cloak grew more dense and sprouted another tail while her nails had extended to be almost three inches long. “Sorry but this cat’s got claws!” She parried the blades and swept Omma off her legs with a leg sweep but Omma used her wings and evaded the thrust of the kunoichi’s claws. The two were stuck exchanging blows that both regenerated in the end, from slashes to thrusts neither could make lasting damage.

Throughout the fight Omma changed her hands from axe like blades to sword ones but no matter how much force she applied her carapace wasn’t enough to even chip Kizura’s nails. The two eventually clashed and vied to push the other back but the longer Omma’s blades touched the chakra cloak the more her chitin started to burn away. “You probably taste good.” Kizura was nothing short of flabbergasted but once Omma opened her mouth and inhaled some of her chakra cloak it made sense, she kicked the bug away from her and clasped her hands together to flash through the rat, ram, boar, and tiger seals.

‘Fire style: Cobalt Ash!’ A smokescreen of blue ashes ejected from her mouth and covered the ridge they were fighting on, the sound of the wooden wolves battling sand demons in the background. Even with the smokescreen both fighters could see but only one of them could breathe properly in the cover yet again they met and traded blow for blow, each bladed strike only being regenerated as fast as it appeared with Omma’s lasting slightly longer.

A kick to the chin made the changeling retreat to morph her hands to normal and bring them together only to pull them apart and reveal a green glow of her mana. “You have a strong life force... thanks for letting me use it sweetie.” Kizura froze entirely once the taunt registered and she didn’t move even as Omma launched the wave of energy towards her. Once the wave was right before Kizura she vanished and allowed it to slice into the boulders that were behind her. Before Omma could voice her confusion she felt a hard strike against her left arm that sent her skidding across the ground.

“What... did... you... say...” The changeling had to roll to avoid the barrage of small azure fireballs that left scorch marks along the ground where she was but she had no reprieve as her sternum was assaulted by a double heeled kick from the furious kunoichi and she barreled into the mass of sliced rocks, narrowly avoiding the slash from the near feral Kizura as whisker like marks appeared on her cheeks. Omma scrambled and fired a green blast from her hand straight at Kizura’s face but the damage wasn’t even registered by her, even as her skin regenerated from the burn and her eyes slowly lost their pupils then turned green and blue respectively. “This ain’t the best you’ve got right?” She grabbed the still extended arm and planted her right foot onto Omma’s shoulder and ripped the arm right out of its socket before beating the changeling with the limb.

The beating started to shake some anger into Omma as well since her body started to shift and grow but that did nothing to stop Kizura in her rampage and she only started to swing harder until the arm broke entirely. Omma looked nothing like she did before, now resembling a gigantic spiderthat towered over Kizura. Omma was beyond words but the clicking of her mouth parts practically read, ‘the fly pissed off the spider’. She spat a mass of webbing at Kizura and bound her for a split second but her burning chakra cloak dealt with the issue but not fast enough to dodge the spider leg sending her flying away. The speed of the transformed Omma wasn’t a joke as she managed to pass the kunoichi and strike her again and again, launching her quarry to herself until her leg was caught and her motion stopped entirely. Omma clicked quizzically and used her multiple eyes to see that Kizura stood upright without a chakra cloak surrounding her, but the part that concerned the spider queen was that two blue tails with black lines came from her body but the transformation wasn’t done as another smoke screen of blue ash blinded the spider entirely this time.

In her blind anger Omma lashed out and tried to strike Kizura but her leg was stopped entirely by something just as big as her, through a great deal of strain she opened two of her eyes and managed to make out the form of what slashed the offending leg off. Before Omma was a massive flaming cat with black lines in the blue flames of her body, Matatabi was before the spider and somewhere in her mind she knew being brought back to life was pointless since she was now going to die again.

Omma scampered back and spat a massive net of webbing to restrain her target but Kizura was faster and dodged to the left before charging straight at the spider. “Fire style: Azure Assault!” The tailed beast opened her maw and leapt into the air, she fired a stream of blue flames at Omma who didn’t dodge the initial gout and lost another leg, it charred and detached from her body as she evaded the rest of the attack. The spider screeched in pain and launched a barrage of webbing globs, followed by leaping directly at the transformed Kizura. The webbing did nothing to deter the tailed beast but the massive spider slammed into the flaming feline and sent the two crashing down to the mountain. As the dust cleared Kizura was slamming Omma into the ground, her tailed beast form making use of its strength to rip the spider apart. Omma’s struggling grew weaker with each impact to the ground, she changed one of her legs into a massive scythe and attempted a swipe but she was slammed down again and had the weapon torn from her body.

“P-Please, I c-can’t...” Her plea meant nothing as the two tailed cat opened her mouth over the slowly shrinking spider’s eyes.

“Fire style: Sapphire scorch.” Blue and black flames came from the two tails’ mouth and turned the spider into a curling, crisp corpse. The form of Matatabi started to shrink, the flames extinguishing as the tailed beast was once again contained. “Don’t call me sweetie you basic bitch...” Kizura fixed her jacket and returned her nails to normal, she gave the spider corpse one last kick before turning and sending a fireball at the sand demon that tried to sneak up on her, turning it to glass. She looked at the petrified imitation before scoffing at it. ‘At least the real Zeko can sneak up on someone.’ She ran back to the fight to move to the next part of their assault.

Author's Notes:

Things have officially gotten crazy, I hope you can keep up