AN: Here is chapter seven, it took me a while to get what I wanted out of this chapter, that along with the starting of a new job sort of took it's toll on my writing schedule but that said I have no plans to abandon the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's associated characters, products or licenses
xxx
In those early days no one realized just what Akatsuki would become; to their clients they were simply mercenaries contracting out themselves to take on assignments no village would either bother with or couldn't stomach.
After the third shinobi world war; the villages for the most part tried to exist peacefully between each other, all sides having suffered enough loss during the brutality of the conflict, and with that peace came a vacuum of skilled shinobi to accomplish tasks that were either politically inconvenient to certain villages or impossible to accomplish due to their depleted manpower.
No one could have predicted that all that work, all those missions were ultimately merely a lead up to their true purpose, their true goal.
xxx
Amegakure
Tower of God
Eight Months after Orochimaru's joining of the Akatsuki Organization
The tower was usually absent of activity but today a nervous energy ran throughout it, today all the paths were activated and working, today it was time to make the tower more then merely a God's stronghold, more then the marker of his divinity, today it was time to make the tower a home.
It was true they had been dwelling within it for more then a year by this point but it was hardly what either would have called a home prior to assuming command of Amegakure, its many rooms were empty, vacant and the scant few that were used were mostly occupied by corpses.
It was bare of all but the necessities, only a scant few rooms had working electricity, the tower had no running water and while such concerns were fairly mundane he knew they would eventually have to be addressed, they would need their own system of generators to power the massive construct and a system to draw in water for usage.
All of this would require labor, all of it would require effort and money but thankfully due to the relative success of Akatsuki it's leader now had access to more wealth then some countries, He could afford the resources it would take to refit the bare structure into something better then it was, while he wouldn't allow workmen into the tower to renovate it would he be able to afford whatever was needed for the task of doing so.
So the toil to rebuild his tower, his home into something better began, he directed the paths, had them install lighting fixtures, route wiring through the tower, he was directing the efforts of six from his throne room. Konan was assisting in the process as well, he had sent her into the city below to acquire a series of items that would make her own living quarters more bearable.
Such as an actual bed, both of them had been making due on Tatami mats and while he wasn't concerned with what was lying beneath him when he tried to get rest at the odd hours he kept, he did wish better for her. No longer were they the small ragged children running from the fighting of the great nations, taking refugee wherever they could find it, sleeping in caves, burnt homes…they were the leaders of this nation now.
And as such at least one of them deserved a bed and running water, for the past year they had been making due with a simple well located near the tower that his angel could simply descend down to bring up water from for both their usage, bathing this way was tiresome and even using it for drinking or cooking easily could become a chore if not enough was collected.
Beyond there was simply the task of keeping warm within the cold stone structure during the winter months; without electricity they couldn't boil water to provide heat, the tower lacked any veritable smoke stacks so it couldn't burn wood to provide heat. This had led to difficulties, but they were overcome like everything else
But no longer, with the wealth his organization was acquiring he could turn his tower truly into the residence of Amegakure's deity.
And while his paths labored and Konan sought what he requested in the city below, he delved into the lore of the sage; controlling the paths was an almost subconscious subject by his point, the more he grew in power the easier their flesh was to control. Now, only particularly taxing and complicated activities required his direct oversight.
Controlling them was becoming like breathing, he didn't even need to think about it to tap into their bodies any longer, and if he wished to do it…he simply did.
Within the scrolls and tomes he pored over he found myth, conjecture and theory it appeared even the few scrolls Madara had produced had been limited, none of them contained an exact method of how to remove a Bijuu from its host and transfer it into the Gedo, it would fall to him to create one if he couldn't find a suitable method. Which would significantly increase the timetable of their ultimate objective, but there was no help for it however.
If he couldn't create or obtain an actually successful method of extraction, his destiny would never come to fruition, he would never have the power he required to bring the nations of the world to heel, he would never be more then the god in the tower.
With a growl of frustration he flung the ancient unbound scroll he had been examining to the floor, the thin and cracked paper bounced off the cold stone and rolled for a few feet before coming to a stop at the edge of his angel's sandal.
His piercing ringlet eyes met her detached and blank amber orbs and he let out a weary sigh.
He refused to accept that; there had to be a way, he would keep looking, keep researching and if he had to he would create his own damned sealing technique rip the charka from the beasts himself.
xxx
He still couldn't believe the last relay he had heard from Kakuzu; Ryota was dead, not from an enemy shinobi, in fact they hadn't even begun their mission but yet he was now dead, dead in the thick wooded remote mountains of Kumogakure's land of clouds.
At first he had questioned the masked miser on the event: Had an enemy slain him, where was the body, had Ryota divulged any information that could lead back to the organization only for Kakuzu to dismiss such worries and replace them with annoyance.
He had killed him.
It hadn't been a particularly difficult assignment, yet another of Kakuzu's bounty retrieval missions, just a boost for the organization's coffers. And yet he had lost a subordinate upon the mission; the fact that galled him the most was just how nonchalant the miser had been about it.
Did he think that shinobi of the caliber Akatsuki required were common place? Did he think that rogue shinobi of their experience, their skill were easy to replace? He had Zetsu out spying constantly just for new membership, their organization required the best and unfortunately the shinobi world teemed with mediocrity.
However there was little he could do to rectify the situation; Ryota was dead and short of reviving him as a path there was nothing that could be done about that, to further complicate the matter, he couldn't even punish Kakuzu the man had become critical to Akatsuki with his financial prowess and vast networks contacts across the continent, Akatsuki wouldn't reach the scale he needed to be at without him.
No he couldn't kill Kakuzu, he would order him to resume the mission alone and leave the retrieval to Zetsu, Kakuzu hadn't even given a reason for the act but Ryota had been wise enough to take his stance on the organization and its policies seriously so he obviously hadn't been trying to betray them back to his former home village.
In fact given their bickering at the last meeting, he could begin to see where this act had transpired out of, the very relationship he had konan had commented on had resulted in this act. A mutual lack of respect and agitation had exploded and left him with this mess.
There nothing that could be done about it beyond sending Zetsu out to retrieve any crucial secrets that could be traced back to Akatsuki and reclaim Ryota's ring of "blue". He would pressure the plant shinobi to increase the alacrity to his search even futher now, they were reduced to six members including himself now…Zetsu, Kakuzu, Sasori, Kisame, Konan and Orochimaru.
To further complicate the issue he still needed to find a competent and worthy partner for Kisame, whom he hadn't paired with anyone as of yet due to the scarcity of S class rogue Shinobi at the moment, it almost made him wish for the chaos of third ninja war again. Shinobi from all sides of the conflict abandoned their home nations in droves to either exploit the conflict to increase their personal power or to merely flee from it.
Honestly it was beginning to dawn on him just why no single person had ever attempted to gather a group of S rank Shinobi under a single banner outside of a village before…it was a chore and a headache to just prevent them from just killing each other.
But there was little else he could do besides persevere, this was the path to accomplishing his destiny and if that meant dealing with Kakuzu and his temper tantrums he would stomach them…but it would have been so much easier to simple kill the miser, he honestly expected more maturity from a man fifty years his senior.
Honestly at this rate Madara would end up being a member just to fill up space in their empty roster.
That thought, the thought of Madara actually having to play the part of a subservient subordinate actually brought a ghost of a smile to his lips.
But never the less…
The trend of member killing member remained troubling.
xxx
News reached Amegakure relatively slowly, it usually only came from the various traveling merchants that traveled the rough and rugged country that adorned the borderlands from the land of fire and earth.
Tales and rumors of other lands filtered into the land of Ame this way but by the time they reached the capital the events they spoke of had often times occurred weeks if not months before, this scarcity of information led to Nagato relying more upon Madara and Zetsu then his own rather limited network of contacts and informants to understand what going on through out the other lands of the continent.
This limited what he could accomplish by himself but in truth he wasn't overly vexed about it, if anything it bolstered his confidence, while he was reliant upon others to simply inform him of the various goings on in the other nations, it also meant that information about himself, his organization and other topics that he would prefer not be the lips besides those he directly chose himself was relatively secure.
Akatsuki needed notoriety but it also needed amenity and secrecy, while they were becoming a more well renowned and reputable organization, they were also all but unknown outside of those who directly contracted their services.
He was relying upon their organization remaining secretive for at least a bit longer, they weren't ready to embark upon their ultimate objective yet and the longer they could operate outside of public knowledge the better able they would be able to prepare for that. Akatsuki would remain in the shadows, and prepare for the downfall of this world in the shadows.
They would herald a new day for the world and every living soul within and it would be unknown to all save but for themselves.
And that would be how they would ensure their success, how they would ensure their goal was met, they would only announce their presence to the world when they were more then capable of dealing with the response it would bring.
xxx
The heavy steeled double doors to his chamber opened once again; revealing the same piercing darkness that it always contained within it, even as the paths worked to make the tower into a home, the throne room had yet to be touched it was still bare and unadorned, and apart from a scant few wall scones that she normally lit when she came into the chamber absent of light.
She came upon him in the throne room; today however he was not in the midst of a conversation with his various subordinates, nor in conference with Madara he was doing what he did for the most part these days.
Going over the various lore of the sage and trying to formulate a sealing technique that would be capable of extracting the massive amount of charka from the various tailed beasts and placing it within the Gedo statue, such a task was immense in scope and his scant knowledge of sealing in general did him little good in this task.
So far even with what Madara had provided left him with nothing beyond a scant idea of how to accomplish the task. He would need to incorporate the various charka's of the beasts into the Gedo, and have the statue become a holder for that charka until the time for its usage came.
As light began to fill the chamber; he knew she had come, he had felt her presence long before the door had opened, like his paths she contained within her lip a piece of his charka metal and through that they were connected.
With a wearied and tired sigh he slowly with trembling arms shaking from exertion began the process of resealing and rebinding the scroll before he placed the scroll back on the end table he had drug into the throne room to act as a holder for the various lore he was going over daily.
Every day and all day for the most part all he did when he wasn't busy organizing the efforts of the organization he was going over various lore regarding the art of sealing, legends of the sage of six paths or bijuu. For months this had been the routine, ever since he had found no mention of any method recorded that the sage had been able to harness the essence of the beasts.
He surely must have had one, he was credited as the savior of the world after all, he had saved humanity from the beasts surely a method one might employ in doing that would be the sealing away of a beast, but there was nothing on that front so ultimately it left him with only two options.
He either needed to keep digging through the various tomes and scrolls on the sage and hope to happen upon a hint or he would need to begin the process of attempting to create his own sealing technique.
As she walked further into the darkened throne room she made out various scrolls littering the bottom of the floor, old tomes of knowledge, books of history and jutsu just casually discarded and the further she walked into the chamber the more she saw.
And there in the furthest recesses of the chamber, amid piles of books, scrolls and old bound tomes she found him within his throne looking as if he was exhausted. His eyes turned to her for a moment before he placed a scroll it appeared he had been in the process of unbinding back on the table he had somehow managed to get into the room.
She frowned at this, for months he had been hold up within the throne room, hardly eating, hardly sleeping only studying, only experimenting and theorizing on sealing and extraction.
And the process she knew couldn't have been healthy for his already weakened and frail body but he didn't seem to care, he slept only for a few hours, he ate only a few morsels and even when she requested she eat with him often times he would only remain there a few moments before he called a path into the room to reseat him into his throne so he could resume his work.
"Nagato you don't need to push yourself so hard, we have plenty of time to prepare for our ultimate objective, you don't need to kill yourself to make it happen a few years sooner." She stated as she moved closer to him, his eyes never left her but they seemed to portray his irritation at her intrusion.
"Konan I told you this work is important, not only to me but to our entire organization, or ambition! If we cannot get a viable method of sealing then we can never achieve our ultimate goal! My dream…Our dream! It will fade and die in the dust!" He vented, his voice growing louder through his tangent.
"Yes but if you kill yourself attempting to get a viable method then our ambition will fail anyway, our dream of peace will crumble into ash." She remarked pointedly, like always Konan spoke her mind.
He knew she spoke the truth for she would never lie to him, had never lied to him she had been consistently honest through out the many, many years he had known and he knew if she said that he was pushing himself too hard…he likely was, but it was just so infuriating.
He had dominion over an entire arsenal of jutsu, he could replicate the powers of the sage of six paths but he couldn't figure out a damned sealing technique?
Nagato let out a yet another weary sigh before giving a single nod towards his partner and steepled his hands together as if in thought before giving her a singular upward glance.
"I thought you would be busy with the remodeling efforts for the tower, have you made your accommodations more suiting to your status already?" He questioned softly as his throne began to thrum slightly as it advanced forward, the contraption slid to a halt but a few feet closer to her but it made no move to come closer.
"Yes, I brought most it back in scrolls yesterday and spent most of this morning putting it all together, it was a annoying process ferrying the scrolls back to the tower but…" She trailed off at the look he gave her, his eyes were cast down and his hands had fall from his steeple and laying still across the cold steel of his throne.
"We cannot allow anyone into this tower, I know Konan." His voice was barely above a whisper: Even shinobi often didn't have as strange a lifestyle as they did he knew, before he had been implanted with the rods of the Gedo steel and before Yahiko died, he had saw a "normal life" was and this wasn't it.
He rarely saw anyone save Konan, Zetsu or Madara, and likewise unless if she ventured out into the city below she was restricted to the same familiar faces, the similar surroundings, day after day for over a year.
She was giving up her life to act as his protector, she was giving a chance for love, for friendship, marriage, children all to be apart of making their deceased comrade's dream a reality; for a moment just a brief moment he considered that to be the greatest of all the sins he was guilty of.
Of denying her the chance to at least attempt to have a normal life, had he died that day like Yahiko would she still be living as she did now? Would she have a normal life? Did she regret being here? With him? These and many more thousands of thoughts rushed through his mind.
Their eyes met once again and a silent question was asked: Do you regret being here? You are giving up your life, you can walk away any time you want…but you won't. Why? Why? Why?
He pondered that, he was guilty of many sins, walking down the path he had, his hands were already stained with the blood of hundreds and surely it would be thousands before it was all done in the end but this one was the most crippling of them all.
Because unlike all the shinobi he had slain, unlike all the civilians and innocents he had obliterated, they were simply a number to him, they were simply a walking bag of decaying flesh, for one reason or another they had earned their deaths, they had earned their fate and Konan…she was not, she did not deserve this life.
"Nagato? Are you alright?" He heard her question; breaking him from his dark and troubling thoughts and crippling doubts.
It troubled him that he was actually thinking of anything but their ultimate ambition, their goal, his destiny…but he couldn't help it, Konan had been the only constant in his life that had remained and even now her she was asking him if he was well, mere hours before he was to set out into their homeland and stain it with yet more blood.
"Yes-Yes I am fine Konan, I am just weary from my research, it appears I will have no choice but to develop my own technique at this rate…there isn't anything in there that provides a method suitable for our purposes and no technique I have studied in my search does what we need." He stated this as he turned his attention to the woman before him.
She was clad in her traditional attire: cloak of akatsuki, the same sandals she had been wearing for years, her hair kept tight in a bun with an origami rose decorating it, she looked like she did every day he saw her but today there was something within her eyes that brought these thoughts to his head.
It was a distraction, it was a weakness, it was something that he knew that could ultimately kill him, but…he couldn't part with her, perhaps she felt the same? No matter how deep her dragged her into the darkness, no matter how far they were swept away into this ocean of blood and war, conflict and battle they would be together.
"I'm glad you are well Nagato, but remember you need to take better care of yourself, you will need to be strong for today, today we close the book on Hanzo for good…" She stated, her voice firm with conviction, whatever thoughts she had on the matter of taking lives for him previously apparently were buried.
"I am strong enough to do what I need to do today Konan, you do not need to remind me of the task we have…" Nagato reprimanded, his statement lacked heat but it was a plain reminder of her place.
"You need to be strong Nagato, stronger then anyone else, stronger then anyone has been, strong enough to rip this reality into pieces and cast them into the fires of war and recreate the world from the ashes." Konan intoned respectfully as she regarded him.
She was ready to kill for him, ready to die for him, ready to plunge the world into the fires of hell one more time to usher in an era of peace unending.
That was perhaps what they both told themselves, when their burdens became too much, when their sins became unbearable, when they could no longer silence the conscience they suppressed, that in the end all of it would be worth it.
"Yes, today we end that chapter of our lives and can focus on the future." Nagato agreed as he placed his hands into the gauntlets adorning his throne and began to focus his charka; all he needed was the Tendo this time, the last thing the supporters of Hanzo would witness before being cast from this earth into the fires of hell awaiting them would be the face of the Leader they betrayed of the dream they had killed and of the hope for peace they had destroyed.
"Well then I shall depart…I will see you when I return Nagato: Remember what I said…be strong, today we begin to fulfill your destiny."
"Do not hesitate Konan. They are neither worth your pity nor your mercy; remember they chose the master they serve." He reminded her as he began to funnel his charka outward, while the majority of his paths were still aiding in the construction of the tower the Deva had been spared that indignity and was upon its usual perch adorning the top of the tower.
The tendo casually pushed itself upward and with a single leap shot forth off the highest platform of the tower and rapidly descended into the city below, the location he had to travel to was a relatively short distance from the city it would be a relatively brief affair.
He would kill these traitors and return to his city purged free of the traitors and malcontents that rebelled against his rule.
xxx
The battlefield was only about fifty or so miles from the outskirts of Amegakure, the once rolling hills and plains had been flattened and crushed during the war, on Konoha's push to Amegakure this had been where Hanzo had made one of his pitted stances against Konoha and while the fields and plains ran red with the blood of the leaf, they ultimately won the day due to superior numbers.
This was also the burial ground for many shinobi of Amegakure, although Hanzo himself escaped death that day by fleeing the field while Konoha regrouped from a surprise offensive by Amegakure, many shinobi of Ame had died defending their capital from the invaders of the leaf.
During Ame's heyday before the war this had been one of the largest farming communities within the country supplying Amegakure it self and many other remote settlements and villages within Ame. What remained of once fertile and good farmlands was nothing but a scar of a conflict now more then a decade past. The ground was still warped from explosions and fire; entire hills had been reduced to craters in the ground.
Why the Hanzo faction had decided to make one of his largest defeats of the second war a base camp he likely would never know, true it was fairly remote with the closest settlement being Amegakure it self but it was hardly unknown. He himself had never been here before, but many people during his childhood had spoken of the slaughter that happened here that day.
Amidst the ruin of farmland and fields across an area measuring more then a mile across were a collection of tents and prefab structures, many of them looked worn and tattered from years of exposure to the elements but within the cratered and pocked battlefield and broken tree line there were figures moving about.
From the memories he had absorbed and observed he had learned of their base here at this battlefield, he had learned of their number, their names, their families, their positions in societies. For the most part the Hanzo supporters seemed to be mostly shinobi formerly under the salamander as his personal private army, in the new system under God there was no place for mercenaries such as them.
The only shinobi allowed by God, served God.
xxx
Hanzo Supporter Encampment
Rural Ame
He approached the camp casually, slogging through the knee high mud without effort, the terrain was rough where there had once been even and level fields, the war had turned the entire area into pock and crater marked wasteland. This gave the Hanzo supporters some cover from sight, you would actually have to stumble into their encampment if you didn't know where to look unless if you had been there before.
And he had, through another memories, he had witnessed the layout of the camp, its placement, its security and its weaknesses, he knew exactly were to strike for maximum effect. He could deliver a swift and brutal blow and end their plotted rebellion long before it began.
As he breached the outer line of dead trees marking the camp he noted three of the Hanzo supporters standing at the far edge of the prefab structures and collection of tents, obviously they were there to be lookouts for intruders, to warn their fellows of discovery or attack.
His legs tensed for a moment and then he leapt forward, covering the nearly three hundred feet distance between him and the group in an instant; he descended in front of them, his cloak fluttering the blowing wind, his features matted with rain but the elements didn't effect his vision and his aim was true.
Due to the darkness of the hour and the blowing wind and rain battering them and their collection of tents, no doubt his detection would take a moment, in conditions like these it was difficult to make out even a few yards in front of you, but these weren't civilians or random swordsmen or samurai they were shinobi and their eyes were keener then most and they made out his descent just as he landed in front of them.
Eyes widened and mouths gasped; they stumbled back trying to gather their wits to raise an alarm only for him to take one and then two steps forward before raising right hand and declaring with a voice like a thunder clap: "Know Pain." One of the Hanzo shinobi was flung back, his form crashing through one of the prefabs only for his broken and mangled body to exit out the other side, skidding face down into the mud, lying there unmoving.
One down.
The other two apparently had recovered from their initial stunned reaction because they both drew kunai knives and flung them towards the auburn figure, both knives were swatted away by a wave of gravitonic force he emitted from his body, not even bothering to raise his hands to deflect the individual attacks.
"We have an intruder in the compound, all men to arms, to arms!" one of the Hanzo supporters exclaimed as he charged towards the auburn figure who had remained stationary since launching one of the three initial guards threw a prefab.
Ringlet eyes bored into the incoming enemy as the man drew a short a sword and raised it overhead preparing to slice the leader of Akatsuki in two.
However as the man prepared to swing down he suddenly stopped in place his eyes widened in shock as the auburn figure regarded; just as it always was his face was blank, expressionless but his eyes burned with a dark anger, the normally vibrant and peaceful rinnegen orbs had become stormclouds.
"Know pain." The Auburn figure proclaimed as the shinobi began to be lifted upwards, his body being cast aloft like a feather caught in a stray breeze. Further and further he flew upward even as his fellows charged the auburn figure, higher he rose until the auburn rose a hand and brought it and like as if gravity suddenly return the man rocketed down like one of Asura's missiles and struck the earth, the sound of shattering bones and rupturing organs was lost amid the sounds of alarm and the weather about but with the eyes of the sage the auburn figure could plainly see that the shinobi was dead.
Two down, many more to go but his bloody work had just begun.
As multiple enemies surrounded the cloaked auburn figure his expression didn't change, his eyes slowly looked over each and every man and woman that stood against him, now the entire camp was on alert and from the memories provided to him from the soul absorption he knew that the group consisted of around thirty or so individuals so surely more would be on the way if they didn't flee.
He would have to work quickly to prevent that; as the encircling group pressed further and further towards he raised both hands upward and suddenly the ground around him began to tremble as started to shift, their footing suddenly unstable many were caught off balance, those were either wise enough or experienced enough to attach themselves to the ground with their charka fared better but would still be just as dead as their fellows shortly after.
The few standing enemies launched a volley of ninjutsu after him, apparently charka affinity was fairly diverse among the group, Water Dragons, Fireballs and Lighting bolts came at him in waves; It was nothing however that this power could not handle, through the rinnegan he didn't even need to avoid these pathetic assaults.
He let out a pulse of gravitonic force and the techniques faltered and then stopped before being pushed away from him, some sputtered out, more resilient techniques such as the Water Dragon only righted it self and prepared to launch it self at the auburn figure once again, the auburn figures eyes narrowed in what could reasonably be called annoyance as he raised a hand and flung the water construct back once more, this time however the construct struck the earth much harder and simply phased out of existence, becoming the water that had made it once again.
With their ninjutsu assault stalled; the standing shinobi looked a bit perturbed and quite a few seemed intimidated, but from bravery or stupidity they held their ground.
How to dispatch them? Gravitonic attacks? Unless if he planned to unleash true power and show them Pain, he would have to wait for the power to return to him after every attack, and while he was fairly confident they wouldn't be able to attack him while he was recovering from the usage of the path's powers, he wasn't willing to risk his most powerful path to mere assumption.
The auburn figure launched forward, leaping into the air spreading his arms out wide and launching a volley of razor sharp charka rods forth at his opponents below, several were skewered by the rods, the metal cutting through flesh and piercing bone.
Some managed to avoid the volley only for the auburn figure to land before them, either quickly dispatching them with Taijutsu or yet more rods, with two opponents the auburn figure literally had to break their necks to prevent them from fleeing with their legs crippled by charka rods as they tried to desperately crawl away from the auburn figure who was dispatching the still fallen shinobi or the now crippled shinobi.
However it seemed just as soon as he finished with this group another appeared, this one seemed much larger and likely contained within it the majority of the camp's forces, the last one had been sent to stall him until this force was readied for combat.
"It's the God of Amegakure!" one of the approaching shinobi proclaimed once they got a good look at the pierced figure of the leader of Akatsuki.
"He finally left the tower! Kill him!" Another jeered as he charged.
This group was more then twice the number of the prior one, likely around twenty or so shinobi and as they ran through hand seals the auburn figure stood still amidst the corpses of their fellows before raising a hand at the center of the group, they were covering the distance between them and him rapidly…but it wasn't quite fast enough.
"Know Pain." He proclaimed as he expelled yet another shinra tensei, however this one was quite a bit stronger then any of the prior ones he had used in this engagement against the forces of the Hanzo supporters.
They launched their own ninjutsu assault upon, much like before it consisted of many different elemental affinities, fireballs, lightning bolts, pillars of earth launched towards him but it made no difference once his wave of gravity met the projectile attacks their faltered and were merely undone, warped out of existence by the wrath of his power.
As the wave of gravitonic force shot forward into the ranks of the Hanzo supporters and they were flung back like leaves being plucked by the wind from a branch, he thought of that day when shinobi such as these had attempted to destroy Akatsuki, had attempted to destroy him and Konan and now this had been their just reward for that day.
For surviving his first purge, they and their families would die today: as the moonlight broke through the storm clouds and illuminated the battlefield he noted with some satisfaction where they had been once been a tent city, a collection of prefabs and survival tents that had before this slaughter housed more then forty people.
Now there was only ruin, pitches still clung to the ground, fragments of cloth fluttered about the area, broken and twisted bodies littered the earth.
Limbs buried underneath rubble, bodies crushed by gravitonic pressure and force and impact trauma, blood pooling and being scattered by the constant pouring rain, this battlefield for a moment had relived a pivotal moment in the history of Ame, only this time it was one shinobi of Amegakure killing others.
There was no leaf invasion, no justification, no grandiose ideal or propaganda.
He had killed them because he had wished them to be dead, and now they were.
His ringlet eyes however caught movement, a figure squirming beneath a piece of stone that had been cleaved from the ground from where the sheer force of his attack had ripped it from its place and flung it through the air like it had been a pebble, apparently it had landed upon one of the shinobi not fortunate enough to die from the sheer force of his gravity attack.
The stride of the cloaked auburn figure was perfect as he made his way to the buried Hanzo supporter; he assumed it was a woman from the soft feminine features adorning his face and her slender legs, although it was hard to tell from the majority of her torso being crushed beneath the fallen rock.
She apparently was aware of his approach as she whimpered pitifully and renewed her struggling against the rock a vigor that had been absent prior, humans clung to life even when it was rapidly fading from them; and if the blood pooling from her body was any indicator it was leaving her rapidly.
Rinnegan orbs met the Hanzo supporter's and time to freeze, her face frozen in a mask of terror and indignation.
"Yo-…you killed them all…" she growled out weakly, blood frothing at her lips with every belabored word, with every heave of her crushed chest.
"Yes; you are the only survivor as of this moment, the only relic from a time now past." The auburn God agreed.
The woman seemed to be on the verge of tears, her life was slipping away rapidly and yet she was still desperately trying to cling to, the auburn God knelt down to her and stared into her eyes, his gaze was unblinking and direct.
"You cannot leave here alive, I would not permit it even if your wound was not mortal, I came here to cleanse Ame of your taint." He informed her coldly.
Her once sorrowful looking eyes met the auburn figures and they burned with rage.
"And how are you any better? Akatsuki killed many more people of Ame then Hanzo ever did! He made peace with the leaf and saved us all! All you did was rip apart that peace and cast us back into a war." Her voice had regained some of its former strength, and her gaze now had an intensity they had lacked before.
"Perhaps but that war was of Hanzo's own making." The auburn god replied solemnly.
He didn't know why he was having this conversation, he didn't know why he was indulging this dying enemy, he should have simply finished her and not engaged her in conversation, but even as life left her she remained resolute to her cause, as wrong as it was, as deluded as she was…he could respect that perseverance.
In another life, no doubt she would have made an excellent addition to the old Akatsuki, but that time was long gone now, and dwelling upon it wouldn't return it.
"Yo…You…" Her eyes seemed to be losing focus, the intensity, and energy that had came with her anger seemed to be fading away replacing what was visible of her blood encrusted face with a relatively blank and almost peaceful look.
"You…You, are not a …" She struggled for breath, blood and spittle dribbled from her mouth, frothing at her lips as she desperately tried to speak.
"A God…" She said, her voice barely carrying above a whisper as her visible body slackened and went still, her final breath leaving her crushed and ruptured lungs.
He didn't know how long he knelt there staring into eyes that had long since become vacant, he didn't know why he remained, there was something within her words though that anchored him to the spot and when the auburn figure finally did rise he cast a singular glance back towards the fallen kunoichi.
"Perhaps…" He mumbled as a response, his normally deadened tone didn't betray any emotion or feeling, but beyond the words there was a nagging sense of self doubt, a seed had been planted by that dying denial from his enemy.
"But I will become one." He stated, it didn't matter what the dead thought, they couldn't impact the world any longer. He stood amidst the battlefield, amidst the wreckage and corpses and gazed upward into the pouring rain filled skies and saw the moon on it's downward descent even past the fairly heavy cloud cover.
Now perhaps that day that Yahiko and his dream had died in the constant rain of Ame could be forgotten…perhaps now that seemingly all those who had survived that had served the salamander were dead…he could look to the future.
Without giving the ruined and wrecked camp another look the cloaked auburn figure leapt into the air.
It was time to return to Amegakure and see if Konan was done with her own assignment yet, after this last bit of personal baggage was dealt with…they could focus solely upon the future, and Akatsuki.
xxx
Amegakure
Tower of God
He let his focus drift from the Tendo, direct oversight was no longer necessary and while the deceased shinobi's words had struck something within him, this was a moment of victory, this was a moment of triumph and he would savor it as one.
As he recalled the Tendo he allowed himself a brief moment to breath easier, for a moment just a moment his world was confined to this singular room, his will merely his own, he had no concerns, he had no cares, he had nothing beyond himself and it was almost overjoying.
For a moment he was free of burden, a weight had been lifted…all of his opposition had been obliterated, no doubt more would rise in time, no doubt new enemies would surface, new foes would arise but for this moment he had won, he had accomplished his mission.
He now ruled Amegakure within out opposition, his rule was absolute and unquestionable now, and as soon as Konan finished her task and returned this bloody day could fade into the history of their nation as the day God vanquished the last of his old enemies and prepared the world for the coming of the dawn.
His thoughts were broken by the opening of the heavy steeled double doors into his throne, even in the near perfect darkness of the throne, his eyes saw her as she shuffled forward, she was favoring her left leg…clearly the Hanzo supporter's families had been more of an issue then he had initially thought they would be, but since she had returned he could only assume she had succeeded.
"You return." He called out as the familiar light of the scones filled the chamber with a scant amount of light as she resumed her pace towards him, as she continued however it became increasingly obvious something was wrong, her cloak, her familiar and akatsuki adorned cloak was shredded in several places and crimson was trailing behind her…from his angle he couldn't see where the blow was but he knew given how durable and Resilient his Angel was, that if she was suffering ill effect no doubt those he had sent her against had been far stronger then he had thought.
As she continued forward he saw the extent of her injury for the first time, where once there had been a leg now there was charred cloth and flesh, in fact her entire right leg seemed to more or less the same going from sandal to upper thigh, the explosion had been a powerful but low one…an exploding tag? He thought to himself as he willed his throne to close the distance between them.
But it was her expression that troubled him the most, it was her expression that ripped thoughts of victory away from this day; it was one of vacant horror, he recalled seeing the same expression when she had first bore witness to Yahiko dying, to the usage of his body as the Tendo…something terrible had happened upon her assignment.
"Konan?" He questioned softly as his throne shuddered to a halt near her, she placed a single hand against the thick metal of his throne to steady herself before her amber eyes met his own and he felt…guilty? Why? She had chosen this, he had repeated that mantra into his head for hours, and yet it happened, he felt it now in this situation.
What had happened during her mission in Amegakure?
"Konan?" he repeated this time, his voice carrying more weight and authority, he had to break her from this silence, the casual dripping of her blood to the stonework was the only noise that could be heard for a brief moment before his partner gave a slight hesitant nod.
"They-The child…" His angel frowned and it appeared as if she was close to tears, he had never seen her like this, not during the horror of the war, she had only wept after Yahiko died, when she thought he would die…what could have broken through the mantra of the shinobi to effect her in such a way?
"What child? One of the supporter's family members?" He questioned, that seemed most likely although given he had no indicator of just what happened, it was only a guess.
Konan bobbed her chin upward and hesitantly reached to the collar of her cloak, grasping the interior clasp and undoing it with an audible pop. And slowly slid open the cloak revealing her normal clothing consisting of black fishnet and purple tinted kunoichi pants with their knee's cut short to fit within the cloak.
However it was not her outfit that had his attention, he had seen beneath the cloak before when she had come to help him into his throne every morning and had yet to don it herself, what his attention was the splatter of crimson adorning the interior of the cloak and her clothing, her chest and lower stomach were peppered with burns and oozing wounds much like her right leg.
"Children did this?" He questioned, ringlet eyes contorting in confusion, how could a child do this to a trained kunoichi of Konan's caliber? She could easily dispatch even elite jounin level opponents with her current skill…the only way it could have occurred if it had been an attack that she hadn't been expecting, hadn't prepared for…
Konan once more gave a seemingly weary and hesitant nod.
"How?" His voice had dropped to an arctic tone, he wouldn't be deprived of his angel, he wouldn't be deprived of the last remaining link to his past, he wouldn't allow it. He would forbid it, if she perished; he would merely revive her to his side again and again as many times as needed…he wouldn't be without her.
He couldn't…perhaps that was selfish, perhaps was the all too mortal weakness infecting his thoughts?
"The child…the child had a explosive tag, I had hesitated and…" an almost rueful smile crossed his angel's lips for a second before fading back to her normally stoic and blank demeanor.
"She didn't. She killed herself and nearly killed me…I barely had the time to form a protective layer but it didn't stop all of the blast but…it kept me alive." She spoke her eyes left his and she cast her head down.
She was ashamed, she was ashamed she had hesitated, had shown weakness and been repaid by that with an attempt to kill her.
"Are all of the families dead?" He questioned, finally turning the subject over to the mission he had assigned her.
"Yes, the girl was…was the last." Konan stated as her head rose and once more their eyes met and she pulled her hand back and tried to regain her balance by herself, she managed it if only just, her legs wobbled and the right seemed to be paining her even more now that she was once again placing weight upon it.
"Good, do you need medical treatment?" Nagato questioned, while he couldn't very well administer first aid himself, the Deva was but a few hours from returning and if that wasn't soon enough the other five paths could suffice if required.
Konan was silent, her eyes were once again focused upon the floor.
He almost, almost felt the urge to roll his eyes at her antics, perhaps a different approach was called for her, if she wasn't willing to submit to his aid he would likely have to press the issue.
"Konan do you need me to get the paths to treat your injuries or do you think you can manage on your own? For they will be treated, we both saw what untreated injuries could lead to during the third war…I am not having you live through this attempt on your life only to lose you to an infection of the blood." He scolded, but it lacked heat.
"I can manage myself." She said, but her tone was pained and she stumbled forward, her hand once again launching out to grasp upon his throne to steady himself.
An almost ghost of a smile crossed his lips.
Her eyes found his and an almost hesitant smile cross her lips and she gave a small nod.
It appeared that today despite his own physical frailties he would be playing nursemaid…the irony was not lost on him.
xxx
AN: Well here we have chapter seven, with chapter eight I am thinking of doing a fairly big time skip to Itachi Uchiha's joining of the organization considering we are still roughly nine or so years out from the Kyuubi attack and it doesn't occur until four years prior to the Uchiha Clan Massacre.
Hope to see you all next time!
-Reborn Akatsuki
