New story...yeah.

Chapter ONE

"War is coming."

"War is already here. Even now, the humans are fighting."

"No, war is currently there. Here is currently safe. Here, there is no war."

"Currently?"

"Yes. War is coming. It is coming here. Humans are coming. They will bring it with them."

"Report!"

"The outer northern defense point just barely managed to hold off the assault. Countless of our men were lost and just as many were injured. I doubt they can hold off another attack."

Senju Tsunade of the Land of Fire snarled in annoyance and slammed a fist onto the table. Beside her, Sabaku no Gaara of the Land of Wind winced at the sound but he did not move to stop her as she proceeded to shatter the wood with her bare hands.

"We did not expect it would hold for long," Terumi Mei of the Land of Water said. "Do we rebuild it and send more men to try and strengthen it?"

"The point of the northern defense was to buy time for the defenses closer to home to fortify," Onoki of the Land of Earth said.

"Defenses that are nowhere near ready," Mei retorted, then added softly. "The northern fort was meant to last longer."

"But it did not," Gaara replied. "We cannot dwell on it any longer, and we must assume the worse. Another attack and the fort will fall. We must decide what we are to do before the enemy moves first."

Tsunade cursed under her breath again. She picked up the many maps and other pieces of paper that now littered the ground and dumped them all onto another table. "Gaara is correct," she said. "This was the worst outcome possible, but it was already considered as a possibility."

"Only the worst outcomes have become reality," A of the Land of Lightning said. "We are waging war against a God. Perhaps we are only delaying the inevitable."

If someone had told a drunk Tsunade five years ago that a sealed Goddess would one day appear to exterminate mankind for some onlygodknown reason, she would have laughed. If she had been sober, she would have punched them and demanded they get back to work. The Gods, after all, had vanished off the planes of the Earth countless generations ago. Some had returned to their realm completely, while those who had remained never again directly appeared before humans. Ever since, while reports of unexplainable occurrences did appear once in a while, no Deity had appeared to claim responsibility.

But then, it had happened. Four years ago, the world had changed. Kaguya was said to be the Goddess of Creation, the being that had created the world as it had first been, but when she had appeared before mankind millennia after the Gods had banished themselves from the plane, there had been no traces of love or even attachment a reator might have had towards their creation. There had been slightly less famous versions of the legend, where the Goddess had been sealed by other Deities for reasons unstated, but she was nothing like the Mother the more popular version of the legends had claimed her to be. An army of white blobs known as Zetsu crawled out of the grave behind her and she brought with her millennia of anger and vengeance and had sworn the world would pay for what it had done to her before she had vanished. Everyone was to suffer for sins committed thousands of generations ago.

It had started as rumors, starting with how the Goddess emerged from the ruined lands where the Otsutsuki clan, the first of the Gods that had forsaken godhood to live as humans, had once lived and had slowly begun her advance towards the Elemental Nations.

However, by then, Gods had been nothing but a legend; the Elemental Nations had been the ruling forces of the lands for as long as history had recorded, and they had believed themselves to be undefeatable. People escaped the path of the Goddess and her army, but those who hadn't seen did not take the rumors and stories seriously.

Soon, the armies of white Zetsu began to make appearances near the edges of the borders and the Nations all dealt with them in their own way. Perhaps the stories were true, they had thought, but back then, it had been nothing. They had all emerged victorious in several battles against the white armies and no one feared something they could defeat.

Then, as though done with playing around, Kaguya unleashed her terror upon the world. Suddenly, the Zetsus were no longer seemingly brain-dead white clones. They became stronger and fiercer, and people sent to exterminate then slowly began failing to return. Others were sent after them, only to witness the horrors as friends and family were consumed by the Zetsu and they became one themselves.

Suddenly, white Zetsu kill counts were no longer a bragging story among the leaders of the Nations during peace conferences, but a real threat.

The Elemental Nations had never really gotten along and border skirmishes had been as common as tea with neighbors, but as more and more news of fear began to spread, an alliance had been formed to confront this sudden, unknown danger.

They hadn't known, however, who this enemy really was.

Kaguya had been reduced to a mythological story, a figure said to have been the creator of the lands. However, it appeared as though years of imprisonment and pent-up anger had driven her mad. Their opponent was a Goddess, and to her, they probably weren't a threat.

For four years, closely approaching five, the Elemental Nations had put up a fight against the never-ending white Zetsu army. Forts and strongholds that had been built to be used against one another became standing points against the Goddess' forces. Her advances were slow, but they were sure, and many had begun to lose hope of winning.

"If we surrender, we die. If we fight and lose, we die," Tsunade said gravely. "There is nothing wrong with trying to reach the only outcome where we don't die."

A stared at her for a while, before he nodded. "I guess you're right."

"Let us consult Shikaku-san," Gaara suggested, and Tsunade nodded.

"I will have him called."

Nara Shikaku was the head of a clan of the Land of Fire, and his intellect was unrivaled. Even those of other lands had heard of his mental prowess and no one would be too opposed to admit that he was probably the best strategist the alliance had.

The man arrived a few minutes later, arms stacked with scrolls. No one questioned him as he called out a greeting before he dumped his armload on top of the maps.

Gaara curiously picked at one and blinked. "...Myths and legends?"

Onoki looked up at Gaara's question and he too picked up a scroll. "Are these...children stories?"

Mei peeked over the man's shoulder and smiled. "Oh! I remember that one."

Tsunade eyed the man, knowing that he had a reason behind his action. "What are you thinking, Nara?" She asked.

Shikaku shrugged as he sat down on an open chair. "Our opponent is a legend, a story," he said. "Or, she was until one day she wasn't."

A narrowed his eyes a little and Tsunade noted the Nara head's apparent love of speaking in riddles. "We are at war here," she reminded him. "Against a Goddess."

"Get to it," A barked at the same time.

Shikaku sighed and raised his hands in mock surrender. "What I'm trying to say is, we're pushed to the edge. We all know this Goddess is much more powerful than what she is currently showing us. I'm willing to bet a lifetime of paperwork without a single word of complaint that she could kill us all off the moment she truly feels like it."

"And while this is cute," Mei picked up one of the scrolls, "How is this supposed to help us?"

"Our opponent is a legend," Gaara said slowly. "She was supposed to be a story." He glanced over at Shikaku, and the man nodded.

"The Gods vanished themselves from before mankind after a huge war that almost destroyed the lands," he said. "However, it's a known fact that some of them did not leave this plane, but have simply gone into hiding."

"He's lost it," A declared.

"If that is the case, why haven't they shown themselves already?" Mei prompted.

Shikaku lazily fished through his pile of stories. "And why would they?" He asked. "It's almost an established fact that Gods could not careless for humans. They are Gods, and we were mere mortals. If Kaguya's creation stories are true, she made us. An argument is that why shouldn't she destroy us at will? We are hers, after all."

"So, say Kaguya is not the only one still here, and that some of the others are still here in the plane," Onoki said. "What, do you suggest we go hunting them down and ask them to help us?"

Shikaku shrugged again. "Well, we are standing on the edge of a cliff, and Kaguya is slowly pushing us over. I certainly wouldn't mind grasping at another way out."

Tsunade closed her eyes and counted to twenty. They were getting desperate, but were they desperate enough to split their quickly declining resources and men towards hunting down the Gods, who had gone into hiding had remained unfound for thousands of years?

"Do you have any other suggestions?" Onoki asked. "Or is this the only thing you prepared?"

Shikaku fished through the scrolls and pulled out a folder. "Well, I also did calculate the manpower and resources we would need to have the northern fort fixed by tomorrow night, as well as a map of the most effective way to travel there."

Tsunade took the file from him and read through it.

"I say we vote," Gaara said. "Either way, we're slowly dying."

"Wait, we're actually considering the Deity hunt?" A asked.

"There isn't much we can do," Tsunade said slowly. "If we send the minimum to both the northern fort, we can spare a few to the hunt."

"I think it might be worth a shot," Mei said. "The Gods have always been a little distant; maybe they don't even know one of their kind is wrecking havoc on this plane."

"You're desperate," A said accusingly.

"No," Gaara said. "We're desperate. We are fighting a Goddess who holds a grudge from thousands of years ago. She is out to destroy the world and everything that exists on the lands. Thinking we had much of a fighting chance in the first place was an act of desperation."

"Still, we are sending out men that we could be using to fortify the defenses around our camp out on a mission to look for something that might not even be found," Onoki pointed out. "I understand where A is coming from."

Gaara crossed his arms and leaned back. "So we vote," he repeated.

Tsunade turned to Shikaku, who looked ready to fall asleep. "I take there's a reason you brought these in particular?" She pressed. "Out of everything else you could have found in the kiddie section of the library?"

Shikaku yawned and slowly sat up. "These are all a part of the Creation legend," he explained. "You know, the one where Kaguya is the creator of the world? I thought that if we really were going out grasping at straws of myths and legends, I thought they'd be slightly closer to the truth."

"Did any, in particular, stand out?"

Shikaku nodded and held up a single scroll. "Have you heard the story about the Deity of Spring?"

"What did she say?"

"She thinks the war there will be coming here."

"Did she say 'think'?"

"...No."

"So they will come here."

"I was hoping they wouldn't."

"That's humans to you; they can never keep their problems to themselves. They aren't satisfied until they drag everyone else into it too. They think their own problems are everyone else's. Did she say why they would be coming here?"

"No. She fell asleep soon after, and I didn't want to wake her up."

"Ah, well, knowing that would have been nice, but I guess it doesn't matter too much."

"If they come to kill her, we'll kill them. If they come to hurt her, we'll kill them. If they come to take her away, we'll kill them. If they come to use her, we'll kill them."

"I'm just wondering, is there an outcome where we don't kill them?"

"...If they're here to pledge themselves to be faithful servants and offer their hearts and their lives as tribute."

"How are they supposed to serve her if they give their lives? They'd be dead and useless then, 'ttebayo."

"...Hn."

So, new story. This one's AU. Yeah. More will be explained later. Maybe. Yeah.

Darque: I changed my mind. I reset any promises I made about not uploading new stories. I TAKE IT ALL BACK.

Raven:...

Darque: This is my goddamn account; I will upload and update as I please.

Raven:...

Darque: UhHuh! I WILL DO AS I PLEASE.

Raven:...No one is saying anything, girl.

Read and Review~