As we were running towards our post, the entire island had already turned red, like in a horror movie. Every few seconds, another barrage of lightning struck the barrier overhead, spreading branching veins of crackling, white and blue lightning, all across the Uzumaki's crimson shield. The impacts came so close together that it was like a stroboscope, giving me a headache as it flashed over and over again. Still, even then, I could see the enormous clay birds circling like vultures. Damn bastards...
"How long can it hold?" Minato shouted over the noise of constant thunder.
"No idea!" Genta yelled back as we ran, "As long as the formation masters hold, I think!"
"That doesn't answer the question!" I yelled with a shrug.
"Too bad, my brother, it's the only answer I have!"
The terrace where we were ordered to go had been constructed along one of the island's highest cliffs. It overlooked both the village and the sea, which would have been beautiful under literally any other circumstances, but not when the end of the world was upon us. When we got there, dozens of Uzumaki sealing masters were gathered across the terrace. Every one of them was kneeling inside formation circles carved directly into the stone, their palms pressed against glowing symbols, maintaining the shielding. I could see their chakra flowing into the seals, and if not for their powerful reserves of chakra, I guess, a normal shinobi would have already been sucked dry.
And to be honest... they weren't feeling good either. I saw how some of the experts were already bleeding from their noses. One older-looking woman had blood dripping from both ears, but she didn't move her hands right until she collapsed. Then she was dragged off, and someone else took her place, while others stood behind them in rotating teams, ready to replace anyone else who collapsed. Medical nin of their own moved between the formation circles, forcing pills into the mouths of the collapsing Uzumaki members and wiping away blood where they had to. Tsk... This wasn't looking good.
"That is insane," I muttered, seeing them work without shouting or orders being yelled out loud.
"As I heard, you suggested it," Genta whispered, looking at me. "Without it, they could have surprised us."
"I suggested watching the sky..." I muttered, gulping, "I didn't design a giant lightning-catching death dome... Although, now I want to call it Thunder Dome..."
"Good name..." Genta chuckled, even though he didn't get my reference, which was fine.
To my surprise, the leadership, including Shizuna, was already there when we arrived at the group that was standing apart from the others. Where they stood, there was at least some talking, as they listened to reports coming through.
"You made it." She muttered, looking up at us for a moment.
"Where do you need us?" Minato asked immediately.
"There," Shizuna pointed toward the edge of the platform, while the others were dealing with the coming and going of more important orders. "I need your observations. The barrier distorts ordinary sight, and our sensors are overwhelmed by the number of chakra signatures above us. You two have better eyes than almost anyone here, so I need your input to double-check our readings."
"Naturally," I pushed my glasses away, out of habit, then remembered I wasn't wearing them anymore. Fucking idiot... "What are we watching for?" I asked before I could feel conscious about it.
"Anything that feels off. Anything. Even if you think it's nonsense, report it. Genta will be there with you, and relay all you speak to me and vice versa."
Without arguing, I took a position at the edge of the terrace beside Minato, and from here, I could see nearly the entire north-eastern half of the island from where most of the Kiri ships were coming. At first, I saw only darkness and white foam, but the lightning strikes gave us enough light to see the fog and the ships trying to hide inside it.
"I can't count them all," I muttered while I was trying to gauge those that were almost poking out of the mist, waiting for a chance to start nearing the shoreline. "But... More than thirty ships on this side, that is for sure. And they are testing the waters, now that your focus is on the sky."
"They will be surprised," Genta muttered after relaying what I just said, and I could sense how their sea defenses activated at once.
The whirlpools surrounding Uzushiogakure had always been violent, but now the seals controlling them opened fully, lifting any restrictions the Uzumakis had placed on them. Like pulling out the plug in a filled bathtub, the water began churning and twisting. Enormous spirals were appearing, visible to everyone, wide enough to eat a ship whole. One such thing materialized right under the furthest Kiri vessel. The whirlpool first caught its bow and dragged it sideways like a crocodile, getting into a deathroll. Sensing the danger, the shinobi aboard jumped from the deck, trying to run across the water, but the current tore apart their feet. Without anything to stand on... they were gone, dragged down, along with the ship that got rolled over, smashed into pieces, and sank into the abyss. Ouch.
It wasn't the only one, though, because another Kiri ship struck a submerged reef as it was thrown around and split along one side, while a third was caught by a rising chain, which tore through the hull like nothing, and then cracked it apart as if it was a kraken or something. For a moment I thought it would be enough, but more ships appeared from the fog, and these ones' hulls had been reinforced in some way. How? I didn't know; it was hard to tell from where I was standing.
"They prepared for the whirlpools," Minato whispered when some of them managed to fend off the violent waves.
"Knowing their goals, I would be surprised if they didn't," I whispered back.
Even then, several ships were still destroyed as they approached, but for every ship lost, two moved closer, and it was clear that they didn't need all of them to survive.
"Movement on the forward decks," I said, sensing something changing. "Scrolls? I can't tell..."
I was right because large scrolls were being unrolled across the bows of the approaching ships. What I couldn't see were the rows of summoning symbols painted across them, but that became very apparent when they began using them.
"Oh, that's not good."
"What?" Genta asked.
"They are summoning something!"
By the time I said it, smoke erupted across the sea, and huge objects fell from the air and struck the water. Huh? What? At first, I thought they were stone blocks, and kind of they were, as they were building bridges. Wide, rectangular platforms made from a mixture of... whatever they were, as dozens of them kept falling from nowhere. Each managed to float above the water despite its weight and the furious waves, being held together by thick connecting joints.
"That has to be Iwa's job," Minato muttered, and we all agreed on that.
In under a minute, the first floating bridge stretched from a surviving warship toward the shoreline, and soon, dozens of floating pontoon bridges had reached Uzushiogakure's shoreline. Yes, the whirlpools caught some of them; one of the bridges twisted and broke at its center, throwing several shinobi who were already running on it into the sea, but... hundreds of figures were already invading from the others.
"They're going to hit the barrier," Minato said, but Genta inhaled, making me feel he knew something we did not.
I didn't need to ask, because the next moment I saw the first of their runners pass through it, unlike the clay birds. A few Water Release techniques launched from behind right then, after the sudden success, but they struck the barrier and exploded against it. It was enough to confirm for them what I was thinking of... The barrier stopped jutsus, but couldn't actually stop people. Shit.
"You've got to be kidding me," I whispered, throwing a look at Genta.
But it made sense, because if it physically blocked everything, it would also seal the Uzumaki inside. The fleeing ships wouldn't have had a chance to leave then... It only stopped their attacks, which included the assembled birds, as they were also someone's jutsu. The moment that became clear, Kiri's advance accelerated tenfold. Their shinobi stopped wasting Water Release attacks on the barrier and instead ran straight through. The dome rippled around each body that passed it, and if they weren't using too much chakra, they easily got through.
That was when the shoreline erupted into chaos and adamantine chains shot down from the cliffs, wrapping around the first dozen Kiri shinobi, hurling them back into the sea. Another set of chains struck the floating bridges, crushing sections or pulling them apart, doing their best to stop them from reaching their lines but... I knew that they were in.
No matter if more explosive tags flashed, were thrown out with kunai, or fire-release techniques were aimed at them from our side, a wall of water rose from the sea and crashed toward the defenders. The more I looked, the more I could tell how the Kiri shinobi poured through every point where a floating bridge reached land, and once inside, they could use their own techniques.
"Can we do anything to stop them from coming in?" Minato asked, but Genta shook his head.
"We either keep the dome strong enough to resist the lightning attacks, or try to block them from entering the land. But switching means that then their jutsus will break through..."
"Renji!" Shizuna shouted at me at that moment.
"I got orders from your Sensei! You are to track the aerial groups and tell us if there is any break from the main formation! He will deal with the ground troops!"
"Got it!" I nodded, drawing my gaze away from the battle.
"Minato," She continued, "You are to relay reports between the platforms. Our communication seals are starting to distort from the amount of lightning residue in the air."
Minato nodded once, then disappeared, flashing away in a hurry. Soon, he was leaping from one platform to the next, and I knew he was also putting down marks because I could sense them appearing, so I kept memorizing them to use with Hirashin if needed. Still, I focused upward, because they were indeed planning something. The clay birds were circling beyond the dome, and I noticed that some carried clay containers... What were they trying to do? Bomb us?
"Eight birds breaking off towards the south!" I shouted, and my first idea became reality because the container under them opened and weapons fell down, passing through the barrier because they weren't jutsus... But they had paper tags attached to them. Those got ignited later and exploded right above us. The splinters weren't that dangerous, but I knew they were just testing. The next dropoff will have better timing, exploding just as they land on top of everyone.
"Where is Sensei?" I asked myself, and the answer was immediate.
There was an explosion of water, drenching everyone, and even from this distance, I could tell when Jiraiya-sensei decided to stop holding back, landing on one of the bridges, smashing it apart. From what I could tell, one Kiri shinobi went flying just by being hit by the shockwave of his arrival, while another got folded like laundry under just one kick. A third tried to strike him from behind just then, and disappeared beneath a curtain of white hair that hardened into needles. Well... someone was turned into a pincushion. The moment he stepped up, the Uzumaki surged forward with him, and for a moment, they pushed the invaders back toward the shoreline while Jiraiya was in the thick of it.
Counteracting his appearance, more Kiri forces crossed the bridges, and more, and more, and... fucking more. Then, without having to see it, I knew he bit his thumb.
"Oh," I whispered, sensing the change.
"Hm?" Genta followed my gaze as I looked away for a moment. "What?"
"Watch."
I grinned, just as Jiraiya slammed his hand onto the ground and smoke erupted, concealing a suddenly appearing mountain. I mean... a mountain-like frog.
"What the hell did you summon me into this time?!" Gamabunta yelled as the smoke was clearing and the giant toad stood with one foot planted in the sea and the other crushing the end of a floating bridge.
"No time to explain!" Sensei shouted. "Sink the ships!"
Gamabunta's eyes narrowed, but he didn't complain. Wait, wait, wait! Can you fire jutsus out of the barrier?! I wanted to yell, but by then he had drawn in a breath; a compressed, massive water projectile exploded from his mouth and crossed the sea like a cannon shot.
Oh... so you can! Good to know...
I watched as it struck the bow of the nearest Kiri warship, and the entire front half of the vessel disappeared. I couldn't look any further, though, because the second bombing run had begun. I was right, because this time, the weapons fell much further before exploding, aiming to wipe out where we were, wanting to kill the formation masters.
Before that could happen, a secondary barrier appeared, maintained by the rest of the Uzumakis, including Genta, who stood with me. It blocked the brunt of the explosion, but... the birds were gathering for another round.
"Minato," I said as he reappeared close to us, already hurrying back to check if we got hurt, "We have to do something about those fuckers in the sky."
"Got an idea?" He asked, glancing at me.
"We should play tag," I said, smiling at him. "Can you get us up there? Without their birds, they can't stay afloat."
"The hells are you talking about?" Genta asked, while another explosion rang out from where Jiraiya was doing battle, so we ignored him, acting like we didn't hear him.
"I think I can throw one up high enough, but..." he muttered, measuring the distance, "No... they are too far."
"Easy," I said, my smile turning into a grin. "Give me a pair, and I'll link you. You throw; I move, then throw a second batch you can flash to. From there, you could throw a third to reach the nearest, and we can both get there. Like a... triple jump."
"Hm." He nodded. "Could work, with good timing. Then?"
"Then?" I licked my lips. "We wreak havoc amongst their birdies before coming back down."
"If the barrier lets us jump back." He warned, but I just shrugged.
"Risk it for a biscuit."
"Heh," He snorted, already pulling out multiple kunai, handing me a few, "Tell me where to aim... and let's do this!"