1,785Author Note
Hello everyone and welcome to another chapter of Cursed Eyes.
The Full Pain's invasion is now upon us, so brace yourselves everyone. Plenty of action, revelations and fight to the death.
Just a fair warning, though, because the chapter shall be quite long.
Cursed Eyes
Chapter 34 – Pain Invasion Part II
Beta: Scheffinator
Animal Path Pein flew towards the village and as soon as her body crossed the sealing barrier, the sealing division chief received the intel and repassed the information of an intruder to the Chuunin that were inside the base, playing cards. Izumo and Kotetsu happened to be amongst the ones on duty at that time. It's been some time since Genma's team was called for Rescue missions, so the two had decided to book some hours in the protective sealing division.
After the intel, the entire group of Chuunin vanished in order to report to the multiple organizations within Konoha, those being the ANBU, the Jonin Captain and of course the Hokage's Office. Meanwhile, the Chikusodo Pein landed on the ground, precisely in one of the quiet neighborhoods, before going through quick hand seals to summon the other bodies. The five bodies of Pein appeared around the Chikusodo body and then all of them vanished in less than a second. To the woman and child passing around, it all happened in less than a blur and she just looked around, wondering about the sudden whisper in her hair.
The child, though, kept on playing with a football and the woman just kept on walking as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.
Asura Path Pein soon landed in another area of the village and lifted his arm to reveal multiple missile projectiles. Each one lifted off to cause major havoc and destruction.
Animal Path Pein, in another area, summoned giant centipedes with Rinnegan eyes that destroyed multiple buildings.
The other Pein bodies would be busy attacking a few of the defending shinobi that attempted to stop the intruding Peins, but to no avail.
Human Path Pein would hold the head of another shinobi from Konoha in search for information regarding the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The blue chakra energy would receive all information this man had regarding one Uzumaki Naruto…however, aside from what he already knows that Naruto is one of the village's Jonin and responsible for specific missions, his whereabouts were unknown. Pein's technique then removed the shinobi's soul, thus killing him for good. The others, responsible for information gathering, also came up empty regarding Naurto's possible location, despite some believing that he was still in the village.
Back to those responsible for diversion, Asura Path Pein opened his head and from it, a powerful chakra beam erupted, this time destroying an entire segment of the village.
The mayhem and destruction put every shinobi on standby, including those still not on duty.
Itsuko and Kasumi were having their day off, having some tea and soon moved upon hearing the commotion and destruction. They sprang into action in less than a second, before noticing the regular crowd running for their lives. One girl soon tripped and fell, hurting her ankle. The rest kept on running and the girl's grandmother appeared to get her granddaughter up. Still, as regular civilians, both were trembling in fear at the level of mayhem going on. One of the summoned centipedes surged after destroying a nearby building and charged at the downed girl and grandmother. They both closed their eyes in fear, all but forfeiting their lives. Kasumi had used her agility and appeared in front of them, falling on the traditional Hyuuga style.
Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation)
The dome of chakra erupted from her spinning and the centipede slammed at it. The spin sent the centipede flying with force and Itsuko was already on it, with her sword to slash the centipede's head off with her sword. She was already wearing her full ANBU outfit with her mask on…after all, an ANBU couldn't ever be fully off duty, in case of an emergency. Itsuko then positioned herself to protect Kasumi, who was checking on the child and her grandmother on the ground. Kasumi knew a thing or two about Medical Ninjutsu, but she was no expert. Even so, she managed to heal the girl's injured ankle somewhat.
"Kasumi, take them to the shelter…" Kasumi looked at her friend's back and nodded.
"Right, I shall report to the clan later on and wait for the emergency alarm, take care."
The Hyuuga then escorted the two civilians away, while Itsuko waited for the call of her captain through the tattoo on her arm.
Seconds later, a group of Konoha Jonin appeared on the adjacent building, in order to see what happened. Itsuko saw them and shunshined close to their position.
"I gather that Hokage-sama is already aware of what's happening and is making the arrangements." The Jonin leader of the group nodded.
"Yes, we are in charge of protecting this area and taking as many of the civilians as possible to the shelters."
Itsuko accepted that, before she received the communication from her squad captain Tora.
"Carry on, then. I shall get going."
She vanished, while the regular shinobi did as well, escorting the civilians towards the shelters, while trying to attack the other centipedes as well.
===At the Hokage's Office===
Tsunade stood at the window of her office, just observing the immense damage done to the village all of a sudden.
Shizune had taken Sakura straight to the Hospital to take care of the wounded, leaving her alone as the shinobi of the village shunshined inside her office.
"Barrier Corps reporting! An intruder entered Hidden Leaf Village through our air space." The man was sweating profusely and panting for breath. "However, shortly after detection, several attacks were confirmed in different segments."
"Analysis corps reporting" An ANBU hidden in black overcoat appeared beside the Barrier Corps Jonin. "Enemy strength estimated in three battalions in size!" Tsunade crossed her arms in concern over the first reports coming in. The village had a few protocols in place already for attacks of this magnitude, but never before this happened with neither or them knowing beforehand. For an enemy to slip by unnoticed and carry this much destruction, Tsunade could count only two possible enemies, either Orochimaru or Akatsuki.
The Snake Sannin had gone quiet these last few months, only interested in gaining strength and observing. It couldn't be him…it just wasn't in his MO to cause such a ruckus like this…at least not by himself.
'So it could only be Akatsuki…so they have come already!'
"Sound the emergency alarm at once! And alert Jiraiya at once! I want him on this, immediately." The ANBU still in the room acknowledged and vanished, leaving only the Barrier Corps Jonin.
"Barrier Corps shall help guide the villagers to the shelters, immediately! We shall turn the offensive after everyone's secured." The Jonin vanished, after acknowledging the order, leaving Tsunade alone to ponder.
'It's obvious that they had come for Naruto, but I wonder just how far they are prepared to go for what they crave.'
===At the Hospital===
Asuma and Kurenai had today scheduled a consultation with the doctor at the Hospital a few months after the surprising and heartwarming news that Kurenai is pregnant with Asuma's child.
The bearded Jonin was feeling the warmth in his chest as he looked at the machines hooked to Kurenai's now sizable belly. He could hear the monitor beeping with the baby's strong heartbeat as the doctor was giving her instructions to Kurenai about necessary precautions, treatments and the necessary absence of leave from duty so that the baby could be properly taken care of. Of course, being a strong woman, Kurenai did object slightly to the necessary leave of absence, but one look at the monitor pretty much convinced her of who was more important right now.
The day then turned to absolute chaos as the first signs of bombing and destruction reached Asuma's ears, before he went straight to the room window.
"What's going on all of a sudden?" Kurenai and the doctor observed the bearded Jonin. Asuma was about to step outside, when he turned back to the room.
"Asuma…" The Sarutobi Jonin was now split in between protecting the village and protecting his soon to be wife and their child from harm.
Taking a deep breath in ponder, it didn't take one second for him to make up his mind and consider his role for now.
"I shall help protect the hospital and the wounded…doctor, we need to take care of her and guide her towards the underground of this building." The female doctor looked in doubt but nodded as she helped Kurenai get up and led her downstairs. Asuma, meanwhile, jumped straight outside just as a giant red centipede threatened to destroy the building. He could see the pattern in the creature's eyes, remembering the Rinnegan's design. Landing on the ground, Asuma went through hand seals, while worrying for his student's safety.
Katon Haisenkishou (Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning Technique)
The gray smoke that erupted from his mouth was enough to cover the centipede's path, blinding it long enough for the bearded Jonin to finish the technique by making a click with his teeth, igniting the smoke and turning into a fire inferno.
The centipede was blasted into smithereens, before Asuma went back to the Hospital to see if Kurenai was protected, before moving on, hoping to better protect the village.
===Throughout the Village===
By now, the village was on high alert, while the destruction was occurring.
Each shinobi that could fight was responsible for protecting sensitive areas around the village, as well as guiding the civilians towards the shelters. The different Pein versions were all taking care of their respective assignments as dutifully as possible, some destroying whatever and whoever stood in their way, some asking questions regarding the Jinchuuriki's location. Of course, those that were questioned would answer with the same 'go to hell' and got their swift death in response to not giving what Pein wanted most.
Not even Konan with her paper Jutsu had any luck as she choked a Jonin to death.
Tsunade was already on the rooftop surrounded by her personal ANBU detail, with Itsuko protecting her, together with Yuugao, Tora and another ANBU.
Naruto had yet to fully show himself and Tsunade had no doubt that he would soon. Jiraiya must be handling the situation in his own way, somewhere. Her new responsibility lied in protecting the health of the citizens of this village.
It is her sworn duty to do so as Tsunade went through hand seals.
Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)
A giant white and blue slug appeared in front of the Hokage's Building, The Hokage lifted from the ground as she eyed Katsuyu, her personal summon.
"Katsuyu, starting now, attach yourself to every ninja and citizen in the Hidden Leaf Village! Take in my chakra and use it to treat all their injuries!" Katsuyu's body turned into multiple little slugs in no time and each tiny slug traveled throughout the village, searching for their own target to heal. Meanwhile, the ANBU detail formed a protective barrier around the Hokage, who in the meantime, made her connection with the slugs to start healing as many of the injured as possible. Her hope was that Shizune and Sakura could handle the injured in the hospital, while she took care of the wounded in battle. One by one, Tsunade's chakra reached out to each and every one of the village's residents, alive, barely alive and…not so much.
For each one she no longer felt a pulse, her eyebrow ticked, showing her anger.
===With Kakashi===
Umino Iruka was jumping through buildings, when he observed a downed Chuunin, about to be squashed by tons of debris.
Jumping quickly to grab the downed allied, Iruka was able to take him to safety. However, as soon as he landed on a secure location, Deva Path Pein appeared in front of him.
"Tell me where the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails is…or else I shall kill you." Iruka felt the killing intent rushing over him, making it harder to breathe. Despite that, Iruka knew about those specific clothing and who it belonged to. As a seasoned Chuunin, he was obliged to have at least a basic understanding of Akatsuki and their members. As he eyed the enemy, though, Iruka pondered on who exactly this person is after…the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Iruka had very little recollection of him, since it's been a long time since he graduated from his class. Back then, Iruka's hatred of the fox ended up ruling over his responsibilities as his teacher. Still, Iruka was a proud shinobi of the Leaf and he would never think of betraying a fellow shinobi, no matter the fact that he houses the very creature responsible for ruining his life.
"…I have no intention of telling you anything!" Deva Path Pein, though, looked deep in Iruka's eyes.
"Humm, it doesn't seem like you hold any personal attachment to the Jinchuuriki unlike some of the other shinobi I ran into." Iruka looked taken aback by that, wondering if his true feelings were that transparent.
"Even so…I won't betray a fellow shinobi." Deva Path Pein looked at Iruka some more, before a metal rod erupted from his sleeve.
"I see, so I have no use for you." He charged and was about to skewer Iruka's chest, when Kakashi appeared and grabbed the metal rod with his hand. Sharingan stared at Rinnegan as Kakashi announced.
"You do create a loud diversion, while searching for Naruto's location in the shadows." Kakashi then looked at Iruka. "Please take the wounded and get away, Iruka." The school sensei took some time, but quickly nodded and left the area.
"I shall ask you, then, where is the Nine-Tails? Tell me and I shall leave your precious village." Kakashi took his fighting position and snorted.
"You can forget it…this is Konoha, we do not betray a fellow comrade. Now, it's just the two of us!" Pein just kept looking straight at Kakashi's Sharingan eye for a while.
"Very well, if you're not going to comply, then you can follow your fellow comrades to the afterlife."
===With Naruto===
Inuzuka Kiba and Inuzuka Hana had tried their best to skewer Naraka Path Pein, but to no avail. Their mother lay unconscious on the ground, presumed dead behind them as well as Tsume's faithful companion, Kuromaru.
Kiba's dog Akamaru and Hana's triplets still struggled to get up, despite their many injuries. The Inuzuka siblings were now being held by their throats by the Naraka Path Pein, a bulky individual with orange spike hair. Both Inuzukas were snarling, half at the foe who held their necks with no effort whatsoever, half at their killed mother on the ground. Kiba's mind was a blur, wondering what he could do to keep this asshole from killing them both, but he was powerless to do anything. All of their canines were so heavily injured right now and Hana's eyes were beginning to close from a lack of breath.
"Last time I shall ask before you can rest in the afterlife…where is the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails? His life is not worth the woman next to you." Kiba looked at his sister, truly considering giving into what he wanted.
Before he could offer a proper response, a head creature suddenly erupted behind the opponent, with the same eyes format and mouth wide, amidst dark flames.
"I…" Before Kiba could give the info needed in order to save his sister's life, Naraka Path's eyes turned to see a sword slashing both his arms, releasing Kiba and Hana from his grasp as Naruto positioned himself protectively.
"Naruto…" Kiba massaged his neck, while gathering air, before looking at Naruto's back. Naruto, for his part, was looking straight at Pein's eyes.
"Kiba, take your sister and your canines towards the Hospital…I shall cover you."
Naruto's full Sharingan eye focused on Pein's, while Kiba got up and quickly gave the stash of soldier pills he had to Hana and their dogs to at least give them the strength needed to reach the hospital. Before leaving, though, Kiba looked at Naruto's back one more time and then at the man wearing the Akatsuki uniform. To believe that they had come here and did all of this just to capture Naruto. His angered and blurry mind was having trouble dissociating the amount of sacrifice this village had to take just for one man's sake.
"Get going already!" Kiba awakened from his inner pondering when Naruto's scream caused him to scram at once.
"Let's go Kiba, this is not our fight anymore. Let's take Kaa-san to safety. It's not too late to save her, yet." Kiba looked at his sister standing as well in surprise. Kiba was still struggling to see the meaning of everything, but complied and left.
"You can see the amount of damage and destruction carried out because of you, Jinchuuriki." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the Pein body in front of him, now with both his arms back in place, for reasons he couldn't fathom. "This shall all be over the minute you surrender yourself." Naruto looked around, cursing Akatsuki for such a low blow. Destroying his home village, killing his comrades, killing civilians even, all for the sake of capturing the Jinchuuriki….capturing him. It was something he never thought possible to happen and he very well should have considered the possibility. What Itachi had said before…the needs of the many always outweighs the needs of the few. So much blood has been spilled today and once again, it was because of him.
"This fight is between you and me, then…I won't surrender, but the rest has nothing to do with your qualm with me." Pein looked at him for a while, saying nothing.
"Hmmm, such a stipulation is fine with me. If either one of your comrades had given me information about you, then none of them needed to lose their lives." Naruto felt the weight of those words crashing down his shoulders. "We can continue our squabble outside the perimeters of the village. Capturing you is my main goal, despite the fact that my heart won't bleed out if Konoha falls today." Pein then turned his back on Naruto and was about to leave, when he turned and gave Naruto, stipulations of his own. "You have precisely five minutes to arrive…failure to comply and I shall carry on the total annihilation of this village and everyone in it…do not try my patience, Uzumaki Naruto. Also, if either one of your comrades or anyone appears to help you, the consequence will be the same." Pein manifested an inch of his killing intent and Naruto got the message, loud and clear.
"I shall meet you shortly." Pein just hummed, before vanishing.
The moment the man left, the bombing around the village stopped…all sorts of noise vanished…as if what tremendous force capable of doing all of this never existed in the first place.
Naruto's Sharingan unfortunately committed everything to life. Once again, Uzumaki Naruto had to live with the memory that would never die, no matter how much he tried. So, after summoning a black crow to deliver a message, Naruto vanished.
===With Jiraiya===
The perverted Sannin had arrived in what appeared to be a catastrophic blowout.
Many of Akimichi Clan shinobi lay dead on the ground, Kakashi hanging on to an inch of his life trapped in a pile of rubble and another Akimichi, probably one of Naruto's teammates, leaving towards Kami knew where. He could see the very same Yahiko body there, staring down at Kakashi, holding in his hand what appeared to be a nail, aiming at Kakashi's forehead. As soon as the nail traveled towards Kakashi, Jiraiya moved and lifted a quick earth barrier to stop the nail from hitting Kakashi, before yanking his body from the pile of rubble.
"Jiraiya-sama…I was already saying my goodbyes to everyone." Jiraiya smirked and gave Kakashi a soldier pill to give him at least some strength back.
"I wouldn't let you leave just like that, Kakashi…what would Naruto and Kasumi say if I did that?" The scarecrow Jonin couldn't muster much of a thank you, since every part of his body hurt like hell at this point.
One of Tsunade's slugs latched on to him and Kakashi could feel the Hokage's energy healing him. Jiraiya smirked once more, before seeing Yahiko's body once more.
"So you decided to come here personally and take Naruto, huh...just how low are you to go, Nagato?" Pein's body didn't show emotion once more, just like last time when Jiraiya's life was at his mercy.
"My goal stays the same, Jiraiya-sensei…all of these are merely necessary sacrifices towards the greater good." Jiraiya already heard the same speech before, but it still hurts to see those words coming out from a once sweet boy in Amegakure. "Nevertheless, it seems my job here is done…I shall take my leave, then." Before Jiraiya could wonder what was going on, Yahiko's body vanished, leaving him and Kakashi alone, together with the other casualties. The worst possible scenario already appeared in his mind…of Naruto being captured and taken by Akatsuki, before they could do anything to stop it.
The Sannin was already making the necessary preparations for an extensive search, when a black crow announced its arrival and landed on Kakashi's shoulder.
The crow's eyes morphed into the Sharingan and it looked straight at Kakashi's Sharingan to deliver Naruto's message. The Jonin released a pained sigh seconds later and Jiraiya looked at him in concern.
"Well, it appears that Naruto-kun wasn't yet captured, but I don't know if that's much consolation…he managed to get Pein away from the village to face him alone." Jiraiya's face obviously disagreed.
"That imbecile…he can't face Nagato by himself, we have to go, Kakashi." The Jonin, though, gave the pervert the last set of bad news.
"According to the message, if someone comes to aid him, then Pain shall destroy the entire village. His directive, Jiraiya-sama, was to save as many of the injured as possible in the meantime."
"Stupid kid…" Kakashi turned to see the concerned look of Naruto's godfather. "Let's get going, Kakashi, at least, Tsunade should hear of this. By now, her slugs have managed to heal most of the injured and the hospital can get some breeding."
"What about Naruto…?" Jiraiya looked pensive.
"I don't know, Kakashi, I really don't know." Naruto's godfather shuddered to think of the worst possible scenario. "Right now, I would give him at least a fighting chance against Nagato, but that's not enough…let's go at once…can you move?"
Kakashi felt the urge to slap the Sannin in the face after the near-death experience he just had and would have, had Jiraiya not arrived in time to save him.
"Oh, my body is aching all over, my chakra is almost non-existent and I am pretty sure a couple ribs are broken, but other than that, I am peachy."
Jiraiya did manage to smirk and smacked Kakashi's shoulder, ignoring the condescending tone.
"Excellent, let's go, then!"
===With the Hokage===
Inside the Hokage's Office, a true pandemonium was happening just as Kakashi and Jiraiya shunshined inside.
Incident reports were piling up on her desk, plenty of officials that worked exclusively inside the village were coming and going, with analysis reports, damage reports, cypher reports, amongst many. However, Tsunade's focus was exclusively on the medical reports, counting the ones deceased, the heavily injured and slightly injured shinobi and kunoichi of the village, after Nagato's little stunt. And like Jiraiya expected, all of them were at a loss as to why Akatsuki had simply vanished without a clear explanation. Tsunade then turned to Jiraiya and Kakashi.
"About time you had shown your face, pervert, what the hell happened out there?"
Shizune had given a quick look at Kakashi's health and approached to finish the job of at least keeping up his health for a later treatment.
"Naruto happened, Tsunade…" Itsuko's pained gasp echoed in the sudden quiet room, hidden in the shadows.
Of course, the way Jiraiya had phrased it would mean that the worst happened.
"Report, Jiraiya…elaborate further." The pervert had his eyes closed, before looking at everyone in the room.
"As far as we know, Naruto had convinced Nagato that this fight was his alone and that Konoha shouldn't suffer anymore. We are still due to know where the fight is taking place…the one thing that Naruto mentioned in a message that he passed on to Kakashi via his crow summon, was that Nagato would destroy the village if anyone came to assist him in their fight." Tsunade snarled at that, while the room had gotten quiet once more in deep pondering. True that Nagato or Pein had waltzed inside the strongest hidden village, by himself, and leveled plenty of the village's sections and Kami knew how many died if Naruto didn't convince him to leave..
If Pein truly wanted….if he truly was mad enough, there was no doubt in the most senior shinobi's mind that Pein could deliver such a threat. However…
"So what!?" Itsuko had marched outside the shadows with Tora holding her down. "So are we going to just abandon him!?"
"ANBU, control yourself at once." Itsuko, though, frowned at the Hokage's command.
She was going completely against protocol at this point to question the Hokage's command, but right now, she was livid in anger.
"I apologize for my outburst, Hokage-sama, but we can't just leave him alone against Akatsuki!" Despite her identity being a secret, everyone in the room knew her feelings for him, when Itsuko started shaking. "After everything he has suffered in life? After everything he had shouldered on despite all that he's been through…after all of the shinobi he helped rescue…is Konoha truly going to abandon him? Tsunade-sama, please, let me go and help him…please!" The Hokage felt for the woman, she truly did…Naruto's situation right now was no different than Dan when she was powerless to stop him from dying.
As such, she approached the purple long-haired ANBU, who was dreading every second, waiting in the room together with everyone.
"It hurts me as well…It hurts others here just as much, those who care about him. We should have faith that he shall get the job done…he's looking after all of us by facing Pein by himself." Itsuko's mask was a little bit to the side of her face, so everyone could see the fear in her eyes…fear at the prospect of losing him…fear of losing the man that she loves. Right now, her mind was clouded with worst case scenarios. The thought of little Misao losing her big brother…the other orphans as well that look up to him…her chest began to tighten inch by inch, until it became too hard to breathe.
"You should have more trust in him." She looked surprised at Kakashi, who was smiling at her with his eyes closed. "Trust me…if Kasumi-chan were here, then she would have my hide for not going to help him, but I have utmost faith that he shall come out alive from this." Itsuko breathed a little easier at that, knowing just how protective her best friend of her little brother was. "If anyone can defeat Pein, there is no better one to do it, in my book." The ANBU managed to laugh a little bit and return her composure, however, returning to the shadows, she eyed Jiraiya.
"I know you plan to go to him once the fight is finished and I want to be there as well."
The perverted Sannin only nodded with a smile, before Itsuko vanished back into the shadows of the office. Of course, even if Jiraiya couldn't be present, it didn't mean that he had zero means of at least following up on the fight, just in case the worst happens, through the use of his summons.
===With Naruto===
Naruto had used shunshin towards the position where he could sense Pein's location.
He stopped once he landed in a clearing, a few miles away from the village. The last distance was performed by casual walking, while understanding the last events as well as the possible outcomes of the fight he was about to have. A minute later, he was standing in front of six Akatsuki members, all with the Rinnegan. A similar scenery that he had, when he rescued Jiraiya from being killed by Pein. Only instead of rain and giant skyscrapers, they were now in a large clearing surrounded by trees. His Sharingan informed him of the enemy's overall chakra capacity, as well as the chakra trail he could see, coming towards the members in front of him.
"About time you made your appearance, Uzumaki Naruto." The Deva Path took a step forward from the group. "Capturing you shall lead us closer to the ultimate path of peace." The Uzumaki-Uchiha Jonin just stared at the six foes in front of him.
"And here I was caught wondering whether or not you even bother about me as a person…" Pein's expression was stone as he observed the Jinchuuriki. "Whether or not, you even bother to understand any of the so-called Jinchuuriki. After all, it's not us that matters to you, is it? All this chaos…destruction…murder if you will…civilians…shinobi…kunoichi…all of that just for the sole purpose of capturing what I carry within me." Naruto allowed himself to close his eyes in derision, while shaking his head sideways, more so to try and grasp the Organization Leader's character.
Pein, for his part, surmised Naruto's pondering quite easily.
"Interesting...you are under the impression that Konoha and its villagers are innocent?" Naruto's eyes once more opened as Pein continued. "For hundreds of years, Konoha as well as the rest of the hidden villages had caused the world nothing but…what you called it…yes, chaos…destruction…murder even….yes, that last one was a given. However, there was never any repercussion of the big villages' actions towards the smaller ones. No accountability, whatsoever. You ponder about the life of a Jinchuuriki, for whether or not Akatsuki is treating them as mere carcasses that keeps the prize inside. However, isn't it the same as what the hidden villages had treated you? Konoha transformed you into a Jinchuuriki for the sole purpose of harnessing the Kyuubi's power for their own selfish desires…however, I don't see your anger towards them."
Naruto did snort at the notion and it came as a surprise to Pein.
"I had made my peace with that notion a long time ago…I never said that Konoha isn't to blame for a great number of atrocities. I happened to come across quite a lot of them, even if indirectly, to know that we had made plenty of bad choices in the past."
Itachi's past memories coupled with what he had obtained from the ROOT ANBU's memories told him plenty.
"Indeed…your eyes don't have the naivety one would expect, though I fail to understand just what you'd hope to accomplish by prolonging this pointless conversation."
Naruto smiled, already feeling the increase in killing intent from the adversaries.
"I was just wondering about it, that's all…my life has been one heck of a thunderstorm ever since I had received the Sharingan. I figure that I will only have peace once I stop being hunted." Those were the two opponents' last shared words, before Naruto fell into a battle position. Just as he did so, the six Pein bodies moved into a specific battle formation.
Three bodies lined up front, being Animal Path, Asura Path and Preta Path. Deva Path stood alone in the middle with Human Path and Naraka Path. Naruto remembered Jiraiya's words well about their joined ability, despite Pein never displaying his full abilities. Before Naruto could think much, he could see Asura Path revealing his full missile collection arm and sending it all straight towards the Jinchuuriki. Naruto eyed the strong projectiles with his Sharingan, before a couple of them exploded on the ground. The other projectiles kept on causing the earthquakes and explosions. Naruto emerged from within the debris with his sword in hand to decapitate Asura Path.
As expected, however, the body dodged the attack, without looking as per their shared sight.
Asura Path kept on attacking, this time, with a chainsaw that threatened to pierce Naruto's chest.
As soon as the chainsaw came close to piercing Naruto's chest, Naruto evaded in mid-air, while going through a quick series of hand seals.
Doton Doryuso (Earth Release: Earth Flow Spikes)
The multiple earth spikes all pierced Asura Path's body, but the body merely kept his goofy looking smile, while growing up a second set of arms and face, before his head opened up to shoot a blue chakra beam straight at Naruto. Naruto's Sharingan caught on to the surge in chakra and Naruto had quickly gone through a ninjutsu combo, trapping Asura Path on the ground with mud, which made him shoot the chakra beam upward. Naruto then formed a quick Rasengan to destroy the first Pein body.
Or he would have, had the Animal Path not summoned a gigantic rhino to charge, forcing Naruto to stop his attack on Asura Path and focus it on the Rhino instead.
Focusing more on expanding power and keeping up the rotation, the Rasengan slammed on the Rhino and sent it flying, straight towards Asura Path.
If it wasn't for their shared sight, the Rhino's horn would pierce Asura Path completely, before vanishing.
Animal Path kept on summoning beasts to attack Naruto, sending him a giant pterodactyl and a dog with two heads.
Both beasts attacked him at the same time as the Asura Path. Naruto saw the Asura Path charging and went through hand seals.
Katon Karyuu Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)
The fire inferno hit the giant bird first, making it screech in pain, before vanishing. Naruto then aimed towards Asura Path, but was surprised when Petra Path appeared in front of Asura Path and used his skill to absorb Naruto's Ninjutsu. Naruto finished his fire Ninjutsu in time to stop Asura Path from skewering him once more. He had forgotten that Ninjutsu was out of the question for the moment. Jiraiya did mention that one of them absorbed Ninjutsu techniques. And the Rinnegan made most Genjutsu useless. With that, it left most possible skills out of reach for the moment.
When the two headed dog came close, Naruto evaded its attack, before biting his thumb and going through hand seals.
Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)
Shirotora emerged from the smoke, now looking as tall as the two-headed dog, wearing armor around his body and head.
"What's going on here, Naruto?" Naruto looked upward to meet his friend's eyes. Usually, Shirotora wouldn't appear like this, when summoned.
But seeing the threat level, it became necessary.
"It's Akatsuki once more, Shirotora. Could you please keep the two-headed dog occupied for me?" The six bodies of Pein eyed the gigantic tiger, vanishing from sight and appearing in front of the dog summon, slashing both claws, causing great pain to the two-headed dog. However, instead of vanishing like Naruto expected, it merely grew another head and kept on attacking Shirotora, who growled at the opposition and kept on fighting. Naruto, then, turned to the bodies and went through hand seals, before going below ground. Against this level of opponent, Naruto couldn't use brute force or even exaggerate with the Sharingan, at least not at the moment, when he's still studying what worked.
The six bodies of Pein looked around, in search of chakra presences, but Naruto always traveled fast below ground and the Asura Path got dragged before it could do much.
Once below ground, Naruto used the mighty crush of earth Ninjutsu to smash it to pieces, keeping it below ground.
The Pein's sight may be linked to one another, but they couldn't see below ground.
When Naruto lifted from the ground, he eyed the other five bodies with Deva Path looking annoyed at the opposition.
Shirotora and the now four-headed Dog were battling it out.
"This mutt is quite annoying!" Naruto laughed at his friend as he, then, looked back at Pain.
"You're only dragging the inevitable, Jinchuuriki." Naruto's Sharingan eyes stared at five sets of Rinnegan eyes. "The sooner you give in, the sooner this world can reach true peace." Naruto snorted at that, however.
"I thought you didn't want to talk."
Deva Path only hummed at the jinchuuriki's stubbornness and extended his hand. Naruto stood there, waiting to know what would happen. Seconds later, his body felt an immense attraction force and he was dragged in the air like a mindless doll towards Deva Path. Naruto couldn't understand what just happened, however he wasn't about to keep on guessing. While still traveling at fast distances, he summoned a Kage Bunshin in front of him and kicked him straight at Pein. The Kage Bunshin formed a Rasengan, while keeping the path towards Pein. The real Naruto had managed to divert his path with the help of the Kage Bunshin.
Deva Path then used his power once more to repel the Kage Bunshin and make the clone vanish.
Still, the real one got the notion fairly quickly as to this body's ability. He could both attract and repel objects, as if he could manipulate gravity.
Naruto didn't have time to ponder much about it, as three Peins all at once charged at him with metal poles that came out of their sleeves. Quickly grabbing his sword, the Sharingan user danced with all of them in melee combat. It soon became too much for him to keep it up and one of them managed to grab him from behind. Naruto's eyes widened as he felt himself losing chakra and losing fast. Snarling, he remembered that this one absorbed Ninjutsu…but thinking more clearly, it wasn't the ability to absorb Ninjutsu, but the absorption of chakra that creates the Ninjutsu.
Thinking quickly, Naruto kicked the ground and used a quick earth technique to lift an earth spike from the ground that pierced Petra Path's stomach. The sudden attack allowed him to get away from the hold up, but Naruto still had to focus on the other two, who were in melee combat with him. Activating the Mangekyou Sharingan, Naruto saw the fractures in the air, representing the different dimension doors which he could choose to evade and attack. As such, as soon as he blocked the strike from the Animal Path, he looked at a fracture behind the Human Path and took it, while charging a Rasengan. Pein's eyes were widened in surprise as Naruto vanished from his former position and then appeared behind one of the bodies, in less than a second, delivering a powerful Rasengan to his stomach and destroying the body.
"Three more of you gone, three more to go!" Naruto proclaimed as he stood in position. He was surprised when Shirotora roared in defiance at being beaten by the now eight headed dog. His right eye started bleeding as Naruto uses Amaterasu on the dog.
Shirotora took the opportunity to catch a breath as he saw the black flames of his summoner's creation burning the dog summon, until it turned into ashes.
"Are you alright, Shirotora?" The tiger saw the aftereffect on his armor thanks to those damn teeth biting him endlessly.
"I will be fine, Naruto, thanks." Naruto nodded and then turned to the other three bodies, only to narrow his eyes in surprise to see five bodies once more, up and running as if nothing happened.
The only one missing from this equation was the Asura Path and only because it was below ground and crushed beyond salvation.
"What's happening here…I know I killed two of you, already. How come you're up and running once more?" Deva Path just looked the same as he eyed the Jinchuuriki.
"No matter what you do, Jinchuuriki, the outcome will be the same. You can do us both a favor and surrender."
Naruto narrowed his eyes, still wondering what was going on. So far, he had already entangled himself with everyone of Pein's bodies…no…wait, he still didn't fight the one on the back. And Naruto figured that he was seeing things when he saw this specific Pein body extending his hand next to a strange head-like creature, surrounded by dark flames. His mind began to interpret Pein's strategy, taking him back to the beginning, when the six Pein bodies positioned themselves strategically. This specific one he was now watching always stood in the back, not doing any of the fighting.
'Could he be the one that brought the other bodies back?'
"Hmmm, took you long enough to figure that out, huh? And here I thought you were getting smarter with age." Kyuubi's voice awakened him. "Truly, the Rinnegan is quite the ancient tool to possess, though to be quite candid, looking at this imbecile defying such a heirloom is disgusting." Naruto knew enough at this point not to banter with the fox right in the middle of a fight to the death, but it sure was irritating to deal with the fox's mannerisms sometimes. And since the fox knew his thoughts and feelings like an open book, it merely laughed at his small conundrum.
'Okay, so we can at least deal with that one first…then I shall deal with the others, without having to worry about dealing with them endlessly.'
Naruto went through hand seals and Pein had positioned Petra Path in front of the line of attack. He already knew the Jinchuuriki to be well-versed in long range Ninjutsu. He thought it was strange, however, when Naruto placed both hands on the ground, wondering if he would be using another earth Ninjutsu soon. Pein had knowledge of all five elemental natures, as such, he would know the second it happened to be prepared. However, he soon got alarmed the second he sensed the usage of fire and earth elemental natures mixed together.
Since Naraka Path was the furthest Pein on the back, the only possible angle of attack would be from his own back, hence why none of the Peins noticed when a geyser of lava erupted from behind and enveloped him.
When the other four bodies turned to see the sudden noise, it was too late and they only got to witness it melting.
"Well, seeing as that one apparently brings all of you back, dealing with him first was paramount. Now, we can continue…."
Naruto said in between gasps of air. Fighting by himself like this and using plenty of high demanding chakra…his chakra coils were complaining of strain. Pein noticed his chakra diminishing.
"A valuable effort, you truly took us by surprise, but no matter now…you are running out of chakra and it's only a matter of time now." Naruto looked at the Deva Path body speaking, while hearing Kyuubi's laughter inside his head.
"I take it you wish for my chakra then, my host?" Naruto was really wondering who he was loathing more at this point, Pein or the fox.
And by the fox's snort and continuous laughter, he was seriously considering the latter.
'I would be extremely grateful for the offer, oh great Kyuubi no Kitsune.' The fox smirked and gave Naruto one tail's worth of his chakra. Pein noticed it immediately, the sudden increase in chakra and the Deva Path once more used his repel ability to strike Naruto dead center. The Jinchuuriki was caught up in his coils, easing up and receiving the inflow of chakra that he was caught unaware. Still, his body took the blow as if a train had just slammed full force on him. Even so, Naruto managed to skid throughout the ground as the blood red aura of the fox enveloped him.
Looking at the now four opponents left to beat, Naruto focused enough chakra on his feet, so that when he charged, dust lifted from the ground.
His Sharingan focused as Deva Paths' repel attack charged at him from a distance. He could see the color of chakra and managed to evade the gravity blasts. The Human Path was his first target and Naruto's Kenjutsu attacks were evaded as per their shared sight. However, now he could use Ninjutsu as the one who managed to absorb it was far enough.
Slamming the Rasengan on the ground to lift enough debris, the Human Path's line of sight became blurry for long enough that Naruto appeared within the debris to decapitate him. The Animal Path was next in line and even after summoning one more rhino to defend itself, Shirotora dealt with it. Naruto was about to use fire Ninjutsu on the Animal Path when Deva Path slammed him once with repel attacks.
Pain's strategy right now was to keep Naruto at a safe distance, with each Path covering the other's weakness.
Naruto figured that it was now time for the big guns…Madara's techniques as he went through a long series of hand seals.
Katon Gouka Mekkyaku (Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation)
Gathering enough air inside his lungs, Naruto expelled the technique and a gigantic wave of fire erupted from his mouth. The immeasurable heat lighted up the sky as Pain found himself trapped at the endless wave of fire coming straight at him. Still, this was no different than Naruto's other techniques, which meant that Petra Path would have no trouble absorbing it. As such, the body stood in front of Deva and Animal Path and began to absorb the technique, until the torrential wave of fire diminished in size, until it only became a small ember. Pein then looked around, hoping to see the Jinchuuriki breathing hard after such a powerful technique, only to see him nowhere in front of him.
He realized too late when both Animal Path and Petra Path got dragged below ground and melted in a hidden sea of lava.
Whereas once there were six sets of Rinnegan eyes, now only a pair stood against the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.
"Now, we can fight without distractions, right?" Pein's eyebrows narrowed at the Jinchuuriki in front of him. Never before had he lost five of his bodies in a fight. However…
"Hmmm, it appears that I have underestimated your resolve, Jinchuuriki. However, now that one last stands before you, I no longer have to divide my chakra amongst them." Before Naruto could understand the meaning of that, Deva Path released a powerful gust of gravity repulse that somersaulted Naruto a long distance and made his body skid on the ground, causing enough harm on his body that the fox had to work double in healing him. Naruto was seeing double and blood escaped from his mouth, from the damage to his lungs. Truly, without the fox, he would be dead by now, as a second tail emerged from his back.
Deva Path didn't relent in his attack, however, and advanced in great speed using all of his chakra at once in concentrated air blasts to keep Naruto on his toes.
The Mangekyou saw the blasts coming and allowed him to evade just as Pein arrived with two metal rods to use as swords.
The two metal rods met with Naruto's sword as the two beasts danced with one another in a shower of sparks. Pein's overall chakra capacity flowed better and stronger with only one body to focus on, but Naruto's own chakra added by the fox's proved to be a match. A battle of Dojutsu ensued at close range with the Sharingan showing Naruto about Pein's movement beforehand and Pein's Rinnegan with the full perception of Naruto's chakra dancing through his chakra coils. In close combat like this, Naruto had to watch out for the repel attacks that Pein would use in the midst of their close-ranged fight, an energy that came from the hands.
Pein had to look out for earth spikes that would appear from below ground, ready to skewer him in more holes than his own body already possessed.
Soon, it became a battle with no clear winner as they seemed evenly matched.
Pein had even slammed a fist underground to lift up a geyser of water, in order to keep Naruto from using fire and lava Ninjutsu.
The area around them was a mess. The land was filled with holes and cracks as the river created by Pein finished the new landscape created. And despite the battle being on top of water, Naruto was no less dangerous in close range, forcing Pein to create some distance. By this point, it became clear to the Akatsuki Leader that he couldn't capture the Jinchuuriki using ordinary means. Naruto, for his part, looked at Deva Path and once again used Amaterasu on his opponent, but Deva's repel attack extinguished the dark flames.
"I believe congratulations are in order, Uzumaki Naruto. You have pushed me further than anyone has before. However, this shall be the end of you."
Deva Path then joined his hands together and Naruto could feel the immensity of the chakra gathering. "They said the Rikudou Sennin had created a moon with his power. Let us see how I fair in comparison, shall we?"
Chibaku Tensei (Planetary Devastation)
When Pain's hands opened, Naruto could see a tiny dark ball in the middle, before Pain threw it up in the sky. Once it hovered in the sky, its attraction power became immense and the land itself started tearing it apart as well as the trees.
The piece of land Naruto was standing on was torn from the ground as Deva Path made more of the land climb as well, in order to take Naruto with the land and entrap him for good. Naruto, meanwhile, looked upward as he could see the tremendous attraction force dragging every piece of the land below. He was racking his mind trying to come up with something that would save his hide right now.
He didn't know the reach of this technique and he doubted that he could escape it. He also doubted that Pein didn't have enough chakra to sustain it to capture him.
Right now, all that he could come up with was to use something in his repertoire powerful enough to destroy this ever-growing ball of earth. Perhaps, he could hit the dead center of the black ball created by Pain, in hopes of obliterating it. However, there wasn't much he could do in terms of long range for his goal. Naruto was starting to get desperate, when the image of Itachi appeared in his mind.
The one specific Mangekyou technique of one Uchiha Itachi, to which he seldom used…
Naruto snorted at the memory of the elusive Uchiha, before revealing the mighty creature Susanoo behind him.
Then, from Susanoo's right hand, four giant golden chakra projectiles were formed as Naruto's Mangekyou Sharingan eyed for the center of the mass upward. The accuracy didn't need to be spot-on, based on the attraction powers of Pein's technique, but it needed enough juice for the shuriken to blow upon impact. Deva Path, on the ground, merely eyed his creation, already sure that his mission was accomplished when the sudden blast lit up the sky. His little moon creation was blown to pieces and Pein could see the blocks of earth falling on the ground, aided by gravity…actual gravity this time. He could see, then, Naruto lining up in front of him surrounded by Susanoo.
Naruto once more used the same Yasaka Magatama on the Deva Path to destroy the body once and for all.
Deva Path even managed to use his repel attack to block two of the giant projectiles, but not the other two, that slammed on his body and carved a hole in his stomach.
Naruto waited a few seconds to remove the Susanoo as he approached the body of Deva Path. His chakra coils were still hurting and his body ached in multiple places as the fox's chakra rescinded. The rush of adrenaline leaving his system, Naruto began to feel seriously dizzy for a while. His feet dragged towards the downed opponent, wondering what would happen now. He knew from Jiraiya that Pain, the real Pain, was neither of the bodies that he had faced now. His Sharingan was still active as he could see the body more closely to see the chakra beacon reaching the body's metal poles on his arm. Its potency was severely diminished now and that gave Naruto relief that the enemy was quite weakened at the moment. His eyes could track the energy pathway and he was certain that he could find where the real Pain was.
But right now, he was just wondering if he should go there or simply go back to the village and check on things.
It now hit him that he couldn't know if any of his loved ones were inevitably killed by Pain and his chest ached at the possibility of…
"Naruto!" Itsuko's voice reached his ears and it brought a huge amount of relief as the ANBU arrived with Jiraiya in tow.
The woman had quickly embraced her boyfriend with all her strength.
"Oi Itsuko-chan, not too tight…please…" The woman, however, didn't let go of the hug, nor did she stop squeezing him as tears fell freely from within the ANBU mask.
"You idiot…how dare you!?" She placed both hands on his shoulders as her mask fell.
As such, Naruto's Sharingan once again marked his love's pained visage. His chest closed at the vision that would seriously come in his nightmares.
"I had to…I couldn't just let anyone get killed because of me." Jiraiya let the couple in their lovey dovey scenery, while he approached the downed body of Yahiko. To believe that Naruto beat Pain by himself with no help from anyone…the kid has truly become an S-ranked shinobi. Despite not enjoying the scene of a killed Yahiko, Jiraiya couldn't help but be proud of the shinobi Naruto has become as he looked backwards to see Itsuko still grinding Naruto for his selfish actions, even if it ended saving many lives in Konoha.
Looking at the image, Jiraiya remembered fondly of another couple in the past…a fiery long haired redhead nagging the blond prodigy after one of his stunts.
Minato, your son sure has grown into a fine young man. I truly hope that wherever you are right now, you can see what I am seeing.'
"Naruto, I trust that you know how to find him, don't you?" Itsuko stopped her nagging as the perverted Sannin approached the couple.
Naruto merely nodded and urged them to follow him.
===At the Highest Point===
Naruto soon landed in front of a tree located at the highest point close to the Hidden Village.
All the trees in this area were light green in color, but this one, where the chakra beacon was located, had a darker green color to it. Jiraiya already knew the material as he passed his hand at the tree and felt the paper. He then used his only hand to open up a tear big enough for all three to enter. Inside, there was Konan alright, but both Jiraiya and Naruto gasped once they took a serious look at Pain…or Nagato, the one that Jiraiya knew. His body was severely malnourished and he could see the bones forming plain as day. There was no skin whatsoever as Nagato…the real Rinnegan user, was visibly sweating in exhaustion from his fight against Naruto. His body appeared to be linked to a machine of sorts and there were metal poles on his back.
"It seems we meet again, Jiraiya-sensei…" Jiraiya narrowed his eyes as he approached, while Naruto and Itsuko stood in the back.
Konan stood in front of Nagato to protect him. "It's alright Konan, let him pass."
"Nagato…" Konan looked backwards in concern, but acknowledged it.
Nagato looked at Jiraiya's eyes, remembering all those conversations they had when Nagato was but a boy under the Great Sannin Jiraiya's tutelage.
"So, sensei, now that you've seen what we've become, I trust you have a few words to express your anger at our actions."
The normally boisterous Sannin now became serious as he eyed both Nagato and Konan.
"Oh I do have words, Nagato…though I wouldn't phrase it like that."
And so, the long awaited conversation arrived and by the look of both Nagato and Konan, Jiraiya knew he was in for a long and emotional ride.
He just wondered what the outcome of this conversation would be for everyone.
Ok, that's it for now.
Man, it took a while to get this chapter done. I truly got stuck in writing Naruto's fight with Pein, but it was worth it.
I had half a mind to leave the fight and the final talk to the next chapter and when I wrote the fight, I realized that the chapter was too long, so the final talk as well as the consequences of the fight as well as other fights will be mentioned in the next chapter. Of course, a great many differences occurred in this chapter. For instance, Naruto wasn't somewhere else, so the complete destruction of the village didn't happen. Also, Naruto wouldn't let Pain destroy everyone just for his sake. At last, since Naruto had way more fire power, he didn't need much of the fox's chakra and as such, he didn't lose his mind, which would trigger the appearance of the Yondaime Hokage.
Don't worry, the meeting between them will happen, but not right now, I have different plans for that.
Next chapter, I shall cover a couple of other facts as well, so stay tuned.
Lastly, I have recently created a P-atreon account for those who wish to follow my stories more personally, sending suggestions and occasional polls to help me.
Also, for those who wish to make a pledge there, it would be greatly appreciated.
P-atreon Account: Anime-Enthusiast
Next update: Nidaime no Sairin