The little boy ran, tripping over the siding of houses and the bodies of his village. Behind him, a dark cloud rolled along, promising an unpleasant death.
"Aaah!!!" He stumbled upon his sister's body, tiny, and cold, her golden curls stiff with dried blood, her face a frozen picture of eternal horror and pain. The darkness followed almost on his tail. He screamed again, and promptly ran into a wall. But not a brick wall, like the kinds he was used to. Or a mud wall, like the ones in Iwagakure, where he was visiting. No, it was a paper wall. He staggered back, looking at the woman standing near him. Lightning flashed. Her electric blue hair stood out in the light the storm had created, and the boy recognized the now familiar symbol on her cloak.
Akatsuki.
A dark hand clamped over his mouth, silencing the scream in the back of his throat.
"Where is the jinchuuriki?" a voice hissed in his ear. The boy let out a muffled cry, shaking his head. His muffled voice came from behind the man's pierced hand again. The man let go of his mouth, allowing him to speak.
"I-I dunno! He passed though here, but I dunno where he went next-mmph!!" Pein clasped his hand over the boy's mouth. Konan glanced sharply at him.
"Pein, he doesn't know where the Kyuubi is. Let him go." Pein looked at his partner, his ringed eyes sending chills down her spine. With a slight nod, he released the boy, who ran off in fright.
"I think you were a little hard on him. He's just a child." Pein straightened into a standing position.
"We were just children when our parents died. We were just children when Yahiko sacrificed himself for us. We were just children when I stopped being Nagato and started being Pein. That boy is just a child, yes, but what were we?"
Konan dipped her head in submission. But she wondered if Pein felt anything for the boy either.
"What will we do next?" she asked, giving him a sideways glance. "the jinchuuriki isn't here, and we have no leads." Pein surveyed the destroyed village of Iwagakure.
"No. we have no leads. But we don't need to find him. He will come to us." He held up a picture; the girl had dark, midnight blue hair and opaque eyes. "when we take this girl, the kyuubi won't be able to resist coming to find her." Konan nodded. He swept past her.
"To Kohona."
The boy slammed the door of the pub shut, gasping for breath, the bruises on his neck aching with every intake. The residents stared at him, drunken confusion and mild amusement.
"Whacha doin' here, kid? Ages 21 and older," said the bartender, a burly man with large hands.
"God…" the boy gasped. "Iwa was…destroyed!" the pub was silent.
"How?" the bartender asked, reminding himself to tell someone immediately.
"God and his angel…came and destroyed it!"
God stood at the ravine, dark and foreboding, the statues of Uchiha Madara and the First Hokage standing as silent guards, protecting their village. God was perched on top of Madara's head, staring at the village lights below him. His Angel floated near him, her paper wings rustling lightly in the wind. God and his Angel, no longer the bringers of good, awaited the destruction of Kohona.