Chapter 86: Fighting for more than his life

He didn’t know how long he fought but to Riku, it felt like ages. It was the hardest fight of his life and the defense capabilities of Sage Mode had been a godsend. Hiraishin had been useless against Madara. He either destroyed the shurifuins with an area of effect jutsu or was simply able to react to the attack thanks to his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. The Rinnegan in his other eye was curiously not used.

It wasn’t to say that Riku was on the defensive during the whole battle. Multiple times he was able to graze his opponent and blow a body part with his explosive strength. Unfortunately and as expected, Madara regenerated quickly. More importantly he couldn’t put any tag on him at all, meaning there was no end in sight to this fight. No good end in Riku’s favor since Madara had unlimited chakra thanks to being resurrected by the Edo Tensei.

His mind was running at full speed. He needed to put an end to this fight quickly. Madara wasn’t the end goal after all. Taking down the ten-tails was. He had no doubt that Mei, Team Kakashi or Team 7 were on it. They were special Heavy assaults teams after all. However, being present himself to offer support of any kind would increase the chances to make that gigantic thing down. He couldn't, however, ignore Madara. The Uchiha would simply make his way there and things would become even more difficult.

So the only thing he could do was stalling.

And stalling took everything he had.

Taijutsu, despite not working, seemed to be the answer. Riku may not use Ninjutsu much in his fighting style; it didn’t mean he was a complete dead weight in that regard. He didn’t work on mastering all nature for nothing. Nor studying all of his grandfather’s Mokuton jutsus or his Uncle’s water jutsu.

Currently, things didn’t seem to be going his way at all. Much worse he was about to run out of nature energy to make nature chakra. That would put a stop to his Sage Mode. The nature chakra sealed inside his own version of the Byakugo on his forehead was depleted and taking the surrounding energy to mix with his own chakra needed a few seconds with his level of mastery and chakra control.

Dodging the gunbai by a hair breadth, he counterattacked at the same time with a raiton laced kunai with a multi directional mine. The projectile went through Madara, who had been too close to be able to dodge but the tag itself stuck inside his body. Riku teleported to the farthest hiraishin seal just after releasing the kunai and ducked on the ground to avoid being turned into a porcupine by the steel senbon infused with raiton that were released by the mine.

Hearing the explosion and the rapid displacement of air above his head, Riku got up and launched himself forward. Madara was reduced to half a torso and while he was already regenerating he could do nothing against Riku applying a paralyzing tag on him.

Contrary to Riku’s thoughts however, Madara proved once again he was a monster of the highest order. With only one hand, which was missing three fingers, he spat a huge fireball at Riku. It was almost a point blank shot. Riku’s eyes and mind took in the fire attack coming his way but his body wasn’t as fast to react. The hiraishin was activated a tad too late and he landed to a marker with his lower legs turned to ash.

Using the bit of nature chakra he had left he regrew his missing limbs and by the time he was done, so was Madara.

“Ingenious.” The Uchiha praised with an ice cold voice. “Had I been alive, that tag would have killed me.” His next words took Riku by surprise. “What is your name, Hokage?”

The shock was quickly controlled and Riku’s reply was almost immediate. “Does it matter?”

“Yes. Very few shinobi can boast to have been good enough to wound me. Granted, I was playing around with you but a wound is a wound. Although you are weak you still seized the opportunity to strike a lethal blow and didn’t miss. I will remember your name.”

Riku snorted. “Who knew that one day, I would earn the respect of the great Uchiha Madara.” Standing up on his feet, he took his usual battle stance. “My name is inconsequential to me but as the Hokage it means something to my people. My name is Senju Riku.”

One of Madara’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“As Hashi-ji’s great grandson, it’s my duty to finally put you down.”

Charging forward, Riku created three shadow clones. One hit the ground and completely wrecked it, sending big chunks of earth, dirt and rock up in the air while creating a smoke screen. The second clone created a massive water dragon from Madara’s right while the third clone used the scorch release from his left. Riku threw the few shurifuins with a hiraishin on them and multiplied them with the shurifuins multi shadow clones justus scattering them all across the area.

The flaming orbs of the scorch release were so hot that the water dragon evaporated on the spot. Since the water was made of chakra and had no impurities in it, the reaction was explosive. All the clones were destroyed by the powerful blast. Riku had to use his chakra to stick to the ground and his arms to protect his face.

With his vision impaired, he wasn’t able to see spikes of wood sprout from the ground, ready to spear him through and through. When he was finally able to see them it was too late to react. To his pleasant surprise and relief they were broken down by someone arriving out of nowhere.

Just as he remembered him from years ago, Senju Hashirama cut a striking and imposing figure even from the sight of his back alone. Hair floating in the wind, a thick wooden pole in hand stuck in the ground.

“That’s enough Mada- What the-”

The god of Shinobi felt his movement being restrained; he had felt Riku putting a tag on his back, paralyzing him. Only his head was free to act.

“This is not your fight.”

One moment Hashirama was standing protectively in front of Riku, facing his oldest friend, greatest rivals and enemy and the next he was standing next to his brother, back to the little group of four his family formed.

“You shouldn’t have interfered, Grandfather.”

“Tsuna-chan! Madara is not a opponent your apprentice-”

“My son.” Tsunade corrected, cutting her grandfather on the spot.

The conversation was cut short by Madara viciously and relentlessly attacking Riku.

“Release him! I want a proper fight! After all those years! And only Hashirama can give it to me!”

The Uchiha’s tone was cold but the fury in his eyes couldn’t be missed. That anger made him more aggressive but Riku could still hold his own.

“You already lost twice against him and you want to fight him again when you can’t even defeat me? Someone far weaker than he is? Uchiha and their arrogance. All bark no bite.”

One of Madara’s eyes ticked at the barb Riku threw to his face. His assault became even more violent. Instead of limiting himself to bukijutsu he took some distance and switched to ninjutsu. It has proven effective against Riku twice so far. More than a close quarter battle. Doing a chain of seven hand seals, Madara unleashed his jutsu.

“Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction”

He took a deep breath and released a jet stream of fire from his mouth. To his shock the fire extinguished immediately. It was only by pure instinct that he dodged a fist aimed at his head from a Riku who just teleported right in front of him out of nowhere. It wasn’t a complete success, a paralyzing tag was applied on his right shoulder making the whole arm useless and dropping the gunbai.

“I guess your sharingan couldn’t keep up and see that coming.”

Mandara didn’t think he could become more angry than he already was. In his eyes, Riku was just an ant. An ant who had proven itself good enough to remember the name for a while but an ant nonetheless. And an ant shouldn’t be so annoying. It should be crushed easily under his heel. So far he was just passing time and having fun. That time had passed and he decided to use the Rinnegan.

“How did he do it?” Hashirama asked no one in particular. He was just voicing the question he had in mind. “How did he counter the Great Fire Destruction? No…” he frowned. “He pre-empted it.”

He was still paralyzed from the tags. Mito had ignored him, choosing instead to focus on her great grandson fighting and Tobirama had given one look before abandoning the idea of freeing his brother. The seal was way beyond his competence on fuinjutsu. He could, with time, undo the seals after studying it, of that he was certain but it wasn’t worth it. The interest he had in the young Hokage in front of him was also stronger than his desire to free his brother. Lastly, he was pretty sure Mito would seal him if he tried to do something. Either helping his brother or the young man.

“Madara is known for his use of fire Jutsu.” Tobirama replied. “The odds were high he would-”

“No.” Tsunade denied, her eyes fixed on her son fighting with everything he got. “Well, not only.Riku recognized the beginning of the hand seals sequence and knew fire was coming. In consequence he reacted accordingly, creating a vacuum barrier with his seals, extinguishing the fire.”

“That’s… not possible, Tsuna-chan.” Hashirama denied, shaking his head. “For a jutsu needing many hand seals, maybe, but Madara’s jutsu only had seven and it’s one of his most secret techniques.”

“Riku recreated sensei multiple shadow clone shuriken jutsu from Uncle’s notes on the shadow clone and basic books on chakra handseals when he was thirteen. He may not use ninjutsu because he finds the use of hand seals unnecessary when you can just punch someone but that doesn’t mean he’s not a master at it.” Tsunade explained.

Tobirama was very intrigued. “You mean from the first sign, he’s able to determine a vast number of jutsu that could be used then diminish the list from each more sign afterward?” This update ıs available on novel⁂fire.net

“Yes.” Tsunade nodded. “He knows what the purpose of each sign is and what is their use in a sequence. He doesn’t need to know the jutsu to roughly know what it’s going to do. At least for anything elemental.”

“So he’s not just a bright young shinobi with great talent in fuinjutsu.” Hashirama stated. He was both proud and impressed.

Mito snickered and Tsunade huffed in discontentment. “I didn’t choose him as my successor because he’s my son.” Raising her voice she encouraged Riku. “Kick his ass, Riku!”

It might have been a coincidence or perhaps her words had an effect but Riku did something unexpected.

So far he could deal with Madara using the Rinnegan. The dojutsu was powerful but it was wielded by just one person. In a way, to Riku, the fight was easier than the one against Nagato when he attacked Konoha with his six paths. That was why he was able to focus his offense and use ninjutsu.

“Mokuton: Wood Dragon Technique”

A huge dragon made of wood sprouted from the ground and shot at a very fast speed towards Madara’s back. Riku had teleported away behind the Uchiha to dodge a chiba tensei which pulled him towards the latter.

Hashirama couldn’t believe his eyes. “Mokuton?!”

Tobirama’s shock was demonstrated by his mouth opening a little while Mito was chuckling at his and her husband’s face. Tsunade grinned like mad.

“I told you grandfather. Riku is my son.” she reiterated

“Tsunade. Why didn’t you introduce him to us properly last time?” Tobirama asked with a frown.

Her grin turned into a grimace. “We didn’t know at the time.” Even Mito gave her a curious look. How could she not know that her son was her son? It was inconceivable for them. Sighing, the Godaime Hokage explained. “Biologically, Riku is mine but I never gave birth to him. Riku is… the result of Danzo's sick experiment to create a Hokage.”

Tobirama scowled at his old student’s name dropping in the conversation. “What did he do?”

“Namikaze Minato, an orphan from no clan or shinobi family whatsoever became the Fourth Hokage. If such an individual who had nothing going for him growing up could become powerful enough to wear the hat then it might be possible to reproduce his feat in a controlled manner. A doctor pitched the idea to Danzo and he agreed. We don’t know how but he took mine and the fourth’s reproductive cells without our knowledge to make Riku who was borne by one of his kunoichi.”

Mito emitted a severe killing intent that everyone ignored when she understood the implications of the project. It meant Riku had to grow up an orphan with no help or resources. Separated from his family. For an Uzumaki it was borderline blasphemy. She was seriously considering hunting down Danzo for this and for hurting her great grandson.

Tobirama was disgusted by what he heard but he couldn’t deny that the project had been a success and a good idea. Only, going behind everyone’s back like he did, didn’t sit well with him.

“Although, don’t misunderstand. Riku didn’t inherit the Mokuton from me. He uses seals instead to achieve it.”

“You mean… Seals-”

“Yes, Uncle. Seals allow you to perfectly mix two elements together to recreate an elemental kekkei genkai. I don’t need them anymore to use the mokuton myself.” Tsunade explained. “I told you. My son is a genius.” She smiled proudly.

“It seems our clan is in good hands.” The Nidaime commented with a small hint of satisfaction.

“That is if he can defeat Madara, which I doubt.” Hashirama cut in. “He’s strong, I will not deny it but Madara is stronger.”

Tsunade looked at her son. “Have faith, grandfather.”

“Time for you to die, Senju Riku!”

Madara’s body was engulfed in dark blue chakra which took shape. Its form defined itself to look like an armor tengu of insane proportions. From Riku’s point of view on the ground, he estimated that the chakra construct was tall enough to reach half the height of the Hokage Monument.

“Be proud of yourself! Only Hashimara has made me use the Susanoo.”

Four blades made of dark blue fire struck at Riku. He used Hiraishin to move away but the impact of each blade, on top of making huge craters, spread the fire in all directions. The wooden shurifuins were burned to cinder while the shadow clones simply depopped. If it was only that Riku may have stood a chance. Unfortunately the Susanoo, despite his gigantic size, was fast.

Riku did his very best to dodge but it was futile.

“Tsunade! Your son needs help! Release me!”

Just as he said this, Riku was caught by the trail of one of the blades. The left side of his body, from leg to pectoral was turned to ash and what was left fell on the ground.

“This fight ends he-” Madara was interrupted by a huge explosion coming from the ten-tails’ location not far away. Gritting his teeth and sending a look to Hashirama, the Uchiha decided that his fight against his rival could wait. The completion of his plan mattered more. His Susanoo still active, he moved towards the ten-tails.

Hashirama’s tone was mournful but not by much. His family’s foolishness caused his great grandson to lose his life. “Tsuna-chan… I’m sorry.”

“Whatever, for?”

The shodaime hokage was taken aback and did a double take at his granddaughter’s curiosity in her tone.

“Your son! He-”

“Look.” She pointed at where Riku had fallen. His body was nowhere to be seen. “Riku suffered more grievous injuries and came back whole. Just you wait, Grandfather. Riku never gives up. If he retreats it’s to come back stronger than ever and win. Madara made a mistake not finishing the job and it will cost him although to be fair, he doesn’t have what’s necessary to kill my son in the first place.”

With that said, she shushined away towards the ten-tails. She may not be able to defeat Madara but she sure as hell will stall for time. After all, a second here was hours inside Riku’s Botib. The longer she lasted the more time Riku had to train.

Mito removed the seal on her husband who was rendered speechless.

“Since when did you stop having faith in the new generations, Hashirama-kun?”

This hit the Shodaime Hokage hard.