Chapter 24: Let's Politely Raise a Palace and Then Politely Punch You Through It
If you've ever tried organizing a group of overpowered ninja with tragic backstories and enough trauma to fill five scrolls each, let me just tell you—it's about as easy as convincing Sasuke to throw a surprise birthday party.
Spoiler: it ends in explosions. And a lot of glaring.
We were huddled inside our sandy hideout—which honestly smelled like someone grilled scorpions in the hallway—and trying to figure out whether we should go full stealth mode again or walk up to Viola and Senor Pink like polite guests and ask:
"Excuse us, but would you like to surrender and maybe not punch anyone today?"
Guess which option Neji voted for.
"This is war," Neji said calmly, like a robot sensei in a drama. "We take them by surprise. Efficient. Decisive."
"No way!" Lee slammed his fist down on the sand table, which made a poof sound instead of the intended dramatic boom. "It is dishonorable! I must fight them fair and square—with the power of youth and roundhouse kicks!"
"Okay, Bruce Lee," Shikamaru muttered, already rubbing his temples. "Can we not argue over whether to throw hands or poetry at them?"
I was sitting on top of a sand couch, trying to look like a serious leader—which is really hard when your foot keeps sinking into the floor. Everyone was talking over each other. Hinata quietly suggested a peaceful resolution. Gai-sensei was doing jumping jacks in support of Lee's passion. Kurenai sipped tea like she was in a soap opera and waiting for someone to slap someone else. And Choji was just really, really focused on his chips.
Finally, Gaara cleared his throat. When Gaara clears his throat, the earth listens. Literally.
"I will raise the palace into the sky."
Silence.
Sakura blinked. "You're going to what now?"
"Lift the entire palace. Into the air," Gaara said like he was announcing lunch.
"That's awesome," I grinned. "Also—how?!"
"I have sand."
Okay, fair point.
"Look," I stood up, brushing sand off my pants. "They're not gonna surrender. Viola probably sharpens her nails with hate and guilt, and Senor Pink has literally headbutted through a wall to avoid talking about his feelings. These aren't 'talk-it-out' kind of people."
"So, we fight," Asuma said, puffing on his cigarette like it was a flavor of grim logic.
"Yeah," I nodded. "But we do it with some order, okay? None of that 'everybody rush in at once and scream about friendship' stuff."
We got to the matchups.
"Lee and Neji," I said, "you two take Senor Pink. He's basically a baby-faced tank with the ability to phase through anything."
"Don't worry!" Lee beamed, striking a heroic pose. "My fists shall find a way to touch his heart—and his face!"
"…Thanks, I think."
"Asuma's backup," I continued. "If things go sideways and Pink starts doing wrestling suplexes again."
Asuma nodded. "I'll bring the pain."
"And for Viola—it's Hinata, Sakura, and Tenten. She's fast and can probably paralyze you with a single glare. Literally. So be careful."
"Paralyze this," Tenten whispered, twirling a kunai.
"If she gets overwhelming, Kurenai will step in. Genjutsu for support" I said. "Also, she's got that whole mysterious cool teacher thing."
Kurenai smirked but said nothing. Her tea clinked ominously.
"And Naruto?" Gaara asked.
"Me?" I pointed at myself. "I get to decide when enough's enough. If things go full chaos-no-jutsu, I'll jump in and clean house. But I want you guys to fight. Really fight. No more tiptoeing around. This is the final act, the last boss fight. If we're gonna end this, we do it with a bang."
Everyone stared at me. For once, I didn't mess up the speech.
"…That was kind of cool," Sakura admitted.
"Thanks," I said. "I practiced in my head. About thirty-seven times."
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If you ever find yourself in a royal palace, sipping tea and waiting for someone to attack you, let me give you a heads-up: if the floor suddenly rumbles, it's probably not an earthquake. It's probably ninja.
Viola and Senor Pink were having what you might call an aggressively quiet day. That means they weren't smiling, weren't joking, and definitely weren't relaxing. They had that "we-know-you're-watching-us" tension in their shoulders, like two cats waiting for a thunderstorm to punch them in the face.
They hadn't heard anything from Mr. 5, Miss Valentine, or Miss Doublefinger. Not even a "hey, we're alive but badly bruised" message.
Senor Pink sat with his arms crossed, the tiny sunglasses on his face doing nothing to hide the suspicion in his eyes.
"They're gone," he said flatly. "Or taken."
Viola, who looked like she could eviscerate someone with her eyeliner alone, nodded slowly. "Then the enemy is watching us. Waiting."
"And we're giving them nothing," Pink said. "Smart."
They stuck together like glue—awkward, heavily-armed, suspicious glue. They moved as a unit. Ate together. Sat in the same room. Took shifts staring at the walls like they could intimidate the architecture.
They'd already called Doflamingo. The Boss was less than thrilled. There was a lot of yelling, a few death threats, and then a final promise: backup is coming.
Spoiler alert: it wouldn't get there in time.
Just as they finished their snazzy coded report ("Operation Flamingo: Still Not Dead"), the floor beneath them did a little shimmy. At first, it was subtle. A slight tremble. Like maybe someone dropped a REALLY heavy sofa upstairs.
Viola frowned. "Earthquake?"
"No," Pink said, eyes narrowing behind his tiny glasses. "Too smooth."
Then the windows rattled. The tea tray slid across the table. And the chandelier swung like it had just been recruited to join a pirate crew.
They ran to the balcony—and stopped cold.
Outside, the desert was dropping away. No, not sinking—they were rising.
The entire palace. Sandstone towers, balconies, furniture, royal gardens—everything—was rising into the freaking sky like it had decided gravity was optional.
"What in the—" Viola's jaw dropped.
From this new altitude, they could see for miles: golden dunes stretching out like waves frozen in time. The horizon was distant and dizzying. And above them, the blue sky stretched wide like an open battlefield.
Senor Pink stared for a beat. Then, with all the emotional range of a wet sponge, he muttered, "The Enemy."
Viola gritted her teeth. "They're forcing the confrontation. They're done hiding."
"Good," he said. "I'm done waiting."
Somewhere far above, the ninja crew prepared for battle. Gaara stood with arms crossed, sand spinning around him like he was hosting a very fancy apocalypse. Naruto stood at the edge, wind whipping his coat. And somewhere behind him, Lee was already bouncing on his toes.
The palace was their arena now. No escape. No surrender.
Only the final fight.
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Floating palaces are weird.
First, they creak a lot more than you'd expect. Second, gravity still works, which means if someone throws you through a window, you'll fall a long way down.
Keep that in mind.
The ninja crew walked into the grand hall like they'd just kicked open the door to a villain's tea party. Everyone looked calm. Too calm. That meant someone was probably about to explode, and not in the fun party-popper way.
Viola stood in the center, arms crossed, heels clicking like the tick-tock of a doomsday clock. Senor Pink leaned against a column like it owed him money, a stone-faced baby in shades and a bonnet.
"What's this?" Viola said, raising an eyebrow. "A group cosplay? You really think your theatrics will impress Doflamingo?"
"We're not here to impress him," Naruto said. "We're here to stop him."
Viola laughed. Not the "you're-so-charming" kind. More like the "you're-all-going-to-die-horribly" kind. "Stop him?" she echoed. "You don't stop Doflamingo. You delay him. Maybe for a day. Maybe a week, if you're lucky. Then he comes back. And when he does, he doesn't just destroy you—he destroys everything you ever touched."
"That's funny," Neji said, eyes cold. "Because we've dealt with worse."
"Oh?" Viola stepped forward, her voice smooth like poison wine. "And will you stay here forever? Guard the gates? Patrol the borders? Make sure he never returns? Because that's what it would take. You win today—and tomorrow, his revenge will swallow this kingdom whole."
She scanned their faces. "You're not saviors. You're a momentary distraction. And when you leave, everything burns."
Naruto didn't flinch. "You don't know us."
"No," she admitted. "But I know him. And I've seen what happens to people who stand in his way. They vanish. Their families vanish. Their homes become craters."
Viola's tone dropped like an anchor. "This kingdom isn't yours to save. You're just tourists standing in the path of a hurricane."
"You're wrong," Naruto said. "We're not tourists. We've seen plenty of hurricanes. Some of us are hurricanes."
"You don't understand!" she snapped, suddenly louder. "You don't get to come here, float a palace, and pretend you're the solution. You don't know what it's like to live with Doflamingo breathing down your neck. You don't know what it's like to have everything—everyone—held hostage by him."
She didn't say the name. But in her mind, it echoed: Rebecca. Sweet, stubborn Rebecca.
"Don't try to guilt-trip us," Sakura said. "We know what's at stake. We're not here for glory."
"You're here for a fight," Viola shot back. "That's what people like you always want. Just another enemy to beat up and feel heroic about."
Sakura's fists clenched, but Naruto raised a hand to stop her.
"Maybe," he said. "But we also fight for people who can't fight back. That's what makes us different from your captain."
Senor Pink finally stirred. "Big words," he muttered.
"Awake, are you?" Kiba said. "Thought you were napping with that pacifier."
Pink's sunglasses tilted slightly as he sized them up. "You all talk a lot. Hope your fists do half as much."
"You're stalling," Tenten said. "You know you're outmatched."
"I know we're outnumbered," Pink replied. "Not the same thing."
His voice was calm. Too calm. The kind of calm that meant he was already planning how many of them he could take with him before he went down. Viola might've been cracking, but Pink? He was all-in on Doflamingo's madness.
Viola gave him a sideways glance, unsure. He'd noticed her trembling earlier. The hesitation in her voice. She could feel the silent judgment pressing in like a loaded gun.
"You think you can scare me with ghosts and sand castles?" Pink said to Naruto. "I've bled for Doflamingo. I've buried friends for him. You're just a blip. A headline he won't even remember next week."
"You don't have to go down with him," Neji said.
"You don't get it," Pink said. "I want to."
That silence again. The kind that feels like the world holding its breath.
Viola felt her throat tighten. She didn't say anything. Couldn't. Because somewhere deep down, she wanted Naruto to be right. She wanted out.
But not yet.
Not while Rebecca was still under Doflamingo's shadow.
So she masked her fear behind fire. "If you're here to fight, then fight. But know this—you're not just fighting us. You're fighting the inevitable. We're just the first wave."
Naruto stepped forward, shadows curling beneath his feet.
"Then we'll break the waves."
The air went still.
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In the middle of a sky-floating palace about to turn into a warzone, the last thing anyone expected was a voice from behind the ninja formation.
"Wait!"
Everyone turned.
Princess Vivi stepped forward.
She looked like someone who'd been holding her breath for years and had finally decided to exhale—right into the face of danger. Her fists were clenched at her sides, her blue hair rippling behind her like a banner of rebellion. Even though she was unarmed and the room practically crackled with tension, she stepped between the ninja and the enemy like she didn't care that her name was probably on Doflamingo's 'to-disappear' list.
"I know I shouldn't say anything," Vivi said, her voice shaking but steady. "I know you could attack me just for opening my mouth. But I'm still going to speak, because this is my kingdom."
Senor Pink frowned behind his sunglasses.
Viola narrowed her eyes. "You're making a mistake, Princess."
"I made a mistake staying quiet for so long," Vivi shot back. "I watched as people were fed happiness like candy while their freedom was stolen out from under them. I kept hoping someone would save us. That someone strong would challenge Doflamingo. And now—now you're here."
She turned to the ninja, her eyes locking on Naruto's.
"You're not perfect. I can see that. You're rough, chaotic, and way too confident. But you're different. You fight for the right reasons. And this kingdom… it doesn't have another decade. Not even another year. If Doflamingo isn't stopped, there won't be anything left to save."
The hall went quiet.
You could hear the wind howling outside the windows. The sky palace trembled again, a slow shift in the stone like it knew something big was about to go down.
Naruto met her eyes and nodded. Just once. "We'll save it."
Vivi's voice dropped, almost pleading. "Please. Save the kingdom. For the people who still believe in it. For the ones who forgot how to."
Viola flinched. Just slightly.
Even Senor Pink twitched.
"She's naïve," Viola muttered. "This is how people get killed."
"No," Naruto said. "This is how people get saved."
Senor Pink straightened and cracked his neck. "You're all very sentimental. Let's see if your punches hit as hard as your speeches."
Behind Naruto, Lee was already bouncing on his toes like a kid at a candy shop.
"Oh believe me," Lee said, grinning. "We've been very patient."
"Too patient," Neji agreed, activating his Byakugan. "Let's end this."
Naruto gave Vivi one more look. "Stay back, Princess. This part gets messy."
Vivi nodded, stepping back as the room shifted from diplomacy to war.
She'd taken her chance. Now she had to hope they'd take theirs.