26/12/2012 - 25 Reviews, 42 Favorites, 64 Followers
Disclaimer: I used to own Naruto, then I took an overused meme to the knee. It ended badly.
AN: Someone sent a review saying that it was too difficult to follow everything that was going on. I feel that this is somewhat justified as it's the period directly after everyone got shunted back in time, but it's a fair point nevertheless. I'm going to try and keep each chapter localized around a certain area from now on, rather than the everything at once method I've been previously taking. I'm not sure I'll be able to fulfill that promise, but I'll try nevertheless.
Chapter 9: Clash in Ame
xXx
(Amegakure, Pain's Tower)
"So Iwa, Kumo and Konoha have all been wiped out?" Kazuzu said dryly. "Pity. They gave the best bounties."
Nagato ignored the latter part of Kakuzu's statement. "As you can imagine, this changes the situation considerably."
Kakuzu shot him a disdainful look. "Why? We don't exactly have strong trade or political relations with them, I can't imagine that it's really going to affect Ame. I never took you for the bleeding heart type, Nagato."
The former head of Akatsuki turned his Rinnegan on Kakuzu. The other man stared back impassively. "I'm still your leader, Kakuzu. Believe me, I haven't lost any of my power. The fact that I'm no longer the head of Akatsuki doesn't mean that I can't separate your head from your shoulders if need be."
Nagato, Kakuzu and Konan were conducting this meeting in the topmost room of Nagato's tower. Unlike previous Akatsuki meetings, they were all seated in a circle of metal chairs. This had the slightly amusing effect of making it seem like the meeting of a three-membered alcoholics anonymous club, were it not for the absolutely terrifying visages of two of the three people there.
Unlike at previous meetings, Nagato was only half serious about the threat. While there were still certain boundaries that he wouldn't allow to be crossed, he'd become a touch more relaxed when dealing with his subordinates, if only slightly.
Nagato didn't care about Kumo or Iwa, or even most of Konoha. While he no longer sought their deaths, he wasn't going to stretch his neck out to help them, either. If Naruto had survived the catastrophe, then he would place his full support behind him. If his old teacher was alive, then he would at least make contact and share what he knew. He owed the man that much. If neither Naruto or Jiraya had survived, then he would leave what remained of Konoha to its own devices. His responsibilities lay with the people of Ame. Perhaps he might open his country's borders to refugees, but that would be it.
Konan looked to him. "How will this alter our plans?"
Nagato cleared his throat. "Originally, I was going to travel to Konoha make contact myself. However, this is no longer a viable option. With three of the five largest shinobi villages eradicated, I'm sure you can both appreciate the chaos that the world is about to be thrown into. I need to remain here, to lead and safeguard the Land of Rain from any foreign threats."
Kakuzu nodded. "What are you suggesting as an alternative?"
"Konan will go in my place." Nagato said. "Unfortunately, with Tobi still at large I'm not willing to let her go alone. Therefor..."
Kakuzu saw where this was going. "You can't be serious."
"You will accompany her." Nagato finished.
Konan was just as incredulous as Kakuzu. "I recognize the importance of this mission, Nagato, but is bringing Kakuzu really a wise option? He's been responsible for the deaths of a great number of Konoha shinobi."
Kakuzu nodded. "Hidan and I killed the Sandaime's son, remember? If any of them still remember that, then there's going to be hell to pay."
"I understand the difficulties, but Kakuzu is the only Amegakure shinobi strong enough to be of any use against an S-rank opponent." Nagato replied. "If anything of Konoha remains, it will be a pathetic remnant of it's former self. They will need to accept any assistance they can get, or they will face extinction."
"Konoha is gone." Kakuzu said disapprovingly. "We have nothing to gain from helping a few miserable survivors."
Nagato turned away from him. "You have your orders. I expect you gone within the hour."
He got up, and put a hand on Konan's shoulder. "If neither the teacher or the apprentice are there, don't bother making contact."
She nodded to him.
Kakuzu and Konan left the room, leaving Nagato alone once more.
xXx
Eight hours later, two more former Akatsuki members paid a visit to Nagato's tower.
Deidara cricked the back of his neck. "So let me get this straight. You're breaking up Akatsuki, but you still want us to work for you?"
Nagato nodded from his position upon the throne. "You can either become Ame shinobi, or seek employment elsewhere. I have no problem with either course of action."
Kisame grinned, revealing a set of razor-sharp teeth. "So the mighty god has given up on his plans? How unlike you, LordPain."
Nagato ignored Kisame's words. "What is your answer?"
Kisame stepped forward, casually slinging Samehada over his shoulder. "I'm afraid we're going to have to decline."
Deidara stepped up beside him, hand moving to his clay pouch. "You see, we don't want Akatsuki broken up, un."
Kisame laughed. "We've recieved a better offer from someone else. You've been made redundant, Nagato."
Nagato sighed. "Very well."
The former leader of Akatsuki shot to his feet, hands raised. "Shinra Tensai!"
The entire room around him was devastated, blown apart by an invisible wave of force. Deidara and Kisame were sent flying backwards, hurtling through the window and into the open air beyond.
Seconds later a great clay bird rose into Nagato's line of sight, with Kisame and Deidara on its back. Deidara shouted something, and an array of white shapes flew towards the tower.
Nagato dashed forward, dodging the first few clay creatures and leaping out of the building. Behind him, the tower exploded in a brilliant ball of light.
Nagato flew through the air, landing on Deidara's clay bird. A metal spike slid out of Nagato's sleeve, and he leapt towards the explosive-user, only to find his path blocked by Kisame. The shark-man grinned and swung his great sword at Ame's leader. Nagato used his Asura Path to augment the strength of his arms by reinforcing his bones with a network of mechanical supports and parried the blow with his spike.
Deidara leapt off the clay bird, creating another bird beneath him. Smiling viciously, Deidara brought his hands up into the explosion seal.
Nagato leapt from the clay bird he was on just before it exploded, landing on the side of his tower. Kisame followed him, avoiding the explosion by milliseconds. Weakened by Deidara's explosions, the great metal tower began to crumble. Nagato and Kisame ran down the side of the structure, trading blows even as it collapsed underneath them.
Reaching the street below, Nagato turned to see Kisame leaping towards him, Samehada held high for an overhead swing. Raising his arms once again, Nagato used his Shinra Tensai technique again, sending the swordsman flying through the air. Around them, Amegakure citizens fled for their lives, their devotion to him overcome by their survival instincts.
The Rinnegan user sliced his finger open with his tooth, and slammed it into the ground. Immediately, a huge cloud of smoke appeared around him, and a great screech could he heard. A great, grey bird with Rinnegan eyes and a huge yellow beak flew out of the smoke, Nagato on its back.
Ame's leader began flying towards the village's outskirts. Fighting within the streets of Amegakure would put him at a huge disadvantage as he'd have the additional handicap of the lives of his citizens to think about. Outside, he could do as he pleased.
Behind him, Deidara had picked up Kisame and was following him. The explosive-user released a swarm of small, explosive birds, which shot towards him with impressive speed. Nagato used his Asura path to unclip his right hand from his arm and fire off a wave of missiles. The missiles homed in on the clay birds, and both detonated in a set of explosions not unlike a fireworks show.
Finally, Nagato reached his destination; an empty stretch of river dotted with the occasional stone platform. Leaping off his bird, he slammed his hand down onto a patch of exposed rock. Another huge cloud of smoke appeared.
Reaching the empty stretch of river, Kisame leapt off Deidara's clay bird. The bomber flew up to a higher altitude, preparing to provide ranged support.
Out of the cloud flew Nagato's bird, with a colossal, centipede-like creature clutched between its huge talons. A glob of some nasty-looking emerald liquid as large as Deidara himself flew out of the centipede-thing's mouth and whizzed past the bomber's bird. Deidara swore, and began to take evasive action.
Below, the smoke cleared to reveal Nagato standing on top of a gigantic crustacean, most of it submerged underwater. The crustacean began scuttling towards Kisame, claws clicking ominously. The shark man grimaced and began making hand seals. A great section of the river around him began ominously moving towards him. Kisame cried out something Nagato couldn't hear and thrust his hands forward. Instantly, a titanic shark of water formed from the water around Kisame and flew towards Nagato's crab.
The shark hit the crab with a thundering crash of water. As it did so, the crab disappeared in a puff of smoke, while the shark seemed to grow larger. It continued traveling along the surface of the water until it hit the bank on the other side, exploding in a massive eruption of water, mud and sand.
Kisame took a moment's reprieve to catch his breath. The shark-man looked up just in time to see Nagato hurtling towards him, spike in hand. The weapon caught Kisame in his left shoulder, blood pouring out of the wound. Kisame roared and ripped the spike out, using his other hand to swing Samehada and force Nagato back.
Above, Deidara was frantically dodging the globs of acid that the centipede was spitting at him, releasing waves of explosives of his own.
Kisame roared and charged at Nagato, Samehada swinging furiously. The Rinnegan user was forced onto the defensive, slightly outmatched by Kisame's kenjutsu skills. Nagato was able to hold his own, but on a couple of occasions Kisame was able to score minor hits, each one draining portions of his chakra.
Finally, Kisame used both his hands to swing Samehada in powerful overhead strike. Using Asura path to reinforce his right hand to it's maximum extent, Nagato caught the blow on one of his spikes, right arm shaking with exertion as he did so. With his left, he reached up and grabbed Kisame's arm.
Immediately, the telltale blue glow of his soul removal technique appeared around Nagato's hand. For the first time, signs of alarm started to appear on Kisame's face. He began struggling, but Nagato held his arm in an iron grip.
"Yeee-haaaaawwwww!"
A loud cry came from above. Nagato looked up for its source, and blanched. Hurtling towards him, on yet another one of Deidara's clay birds, was the cloaked form of Hidan. The man was grinning insanely, waving his scythe in a dramatic manner, and didn't seem to be showing any signs of stopping his headlong charge anytime soon.
Releasing his soul removal technique, Nagato leapt backwards and fired off another Shinra Tensai. Kisame was blown backwards once again, sent hurtling away like a stone skipping on a river. The clay bird slammed into the river's surface, detonating.
As he had suspected, Hidan hadn't bothered to jump off the bird. Instead, he used the explosion to propel himself towards Nagato, laughing madly as he did so. Nagato tried to dodge out of the way, but the insane speed at which Hidan was traveling meant that he wasn't able to evade it completely. Purely by chance, the zealot's scythe clipped his left thigh, drawing a thin trail of blood.
It didn't take more than a microsecond for Nagato to realize the implications of this. Instantly, he was on the offensive, charging towards Hidan. The zealot had landed painfully on one of the stone platforms, and was in the process of regaining his feet when Nagato launched a wave of missiles directly at him. The man was too dazed to try and dodge, and he was blown high into the air a second time. His scythe was blown out of his hands and sent spinning into the river, the blood washed off by the river's freezing water.
Somehow, Hidan landed on his feet.
"I'm going to make you scream for that." The zealot yelled at him, pulling a retractable spear out of his cloak.
Nagato didn't bother to respond and dashed forward, spikes in both hands. Compared Kisame, Hidan's swordsmanship skills were pathetic. Catching Hidan's first blow on one of spikes, Nagato rammed the second into his chest. Taking advantage of the man's momentary shock, Nagato hit him with another, then two more. Running his chakra through the spikes, Nagato forced Hidan to his knees, then impaled him with another eight.
Above, Deidara had just finished off the bird-centipede summon combination. Taking in the situation below, he reached into his clay pouch and pulled out his favorite masterwork, a small, humanoid sculpture with wide, crossed hands and a gaping mouth. The C3. Flying directly over Nagato, he tossed the sculpture over the side, hands moving into seals.
Nagato looked up to see Deidara release the bomb, realizing that he wouldn't be able get out of the way in time. Quickly running over what he knew about Deidara's abilities, he morphed his hand into an Asura Path weapon and took careful aim.
The instant Deidara's structure expanded into its larger form, a beam of pure lightning chakra shot through the air and pierced it. Immediately, the bomb was neutralized, burning up into fragments in the air.
Behind him, Hidan got to his feet. "Oy, bastard, pick me up!"
Hearing Hidan's cry, Deidara flew down towards him, firing off another wave of clay constructs to keep Nagato busy. When the bird reached ground level, the zealot leapt up onto its back.
Deidara turned his focus to dodging the beams of lightning chakra that Nagato was firing off at him. "Why'd I have to pick you up? Are we doing another..."
He was stopped mid-sentence as Hidan's spear pierced his heart. The man died instantly, body slumping onto the bird.
Completely and utterly under Nagato's control in lieu of the twelve chakra rods sticking out of his body, Hidan grabbed a kunai from the corpse and promptly decapitated himself.
Nagato watched as the head tumbled off the back of the clay bird and landed a few meters away from him. His blank expression turned to a frown when he realized that the head was that of a brown-haired middle-aged man.
Shapeshifting technique. The former Akatsuki members were using surrogates to do the fighting for them. What a pain.
The sound of battle caught his attention. Down in the direction where he had flung Kisame, he could see the telltale signs of jutsu being used. Sliding the spike back into his coat sleeve, Nagato sprinted towards the scene.
Above him, the clay bird flew on towards parts unknown, still carrying its cargo of one and a half corpses.
A couple of minutes later, Nagato arrived at another stretch of river. In front of him, a bloodied Kisame was tearing apart a group of Ame shinobi who had arrived to investigate.
Nagato raised a hand. "Shinra Tensai!"
Everything, including Kisame and the Ame shinobi, flew towards him. Nagato neatly sidestepped his men, and impaled the suprised Kisame through the chest. Despite being caught off guard, the man had tried to swing Samehada at him at he flew, but Nagato had parried the blow. When the man tried to kick him, Nagato slammed a spike into each of his limbs in quick succession.
Arms and legs useless, The shark man leered at him. "It's been fun, god."
Not bothering to bandy words, Nagato impaled him again, this time through one of his eyes. 'Kisame' died instantly, morphing into the body of a pretty woman in her twenties.
A woman he recognized as one of the three members of an Ame patrol who had disappeared yesterday.
Nagato inwardly grit his teeth in rage, then turned to the stunned Ame shinobi around him. He placed a mask of calm control over his face.
Now, more than ever, they needed a leader.
xXx
Waves of anger shot through Tobi's nerves as he examined the red-haired body in front of him.
He'd been counting on the Rinnegan being one of the tools in his arsenal. He'd sent shapeshifted copies of Hidan, Deidara and Kisame to try and take out Nagato, for the express purpose of causing enough of a distraction that he could complete his mission undetected.
As he'd hoped, Nagato had stored his old body in the shrine it had been concealed in once before by Konan. To his surprise and irritation, however, Nagato had apparently anticipated Tobi would try and take the Rinnegan, and had prepared accordingly.
Tobi had almost forgotten to run a diagnostic jutsu before he had absorbed Nagato's eyes. He was now extremely glad that he had remembered to do so.
Nagato had inscribed explosive seals into the eyeballs. His own eyeballs. Even to a deeply apathetic man like Tobi, that was pretty twisted. If he'd stuck them into his eye sockets, one seal from Nagato would have blown his head open.
They weren't seals that could be removed, either. Nagato obviously knew what he was doing.
Even so, he carefully removed the eyes and sealed them into a scroll. You never when a pair of exploding eyeballs could come in handy.
His grizzly work done, Tobi slipped out onto the streets of Ame. The sounds of battle could still be heard on the village's outskirts, but Tobi doubted that anything would come of it. Even together, with only 50% of their strength there was no way that his subordinates would be able to bring Nagato down.
As he was in the process of leaving Ame, a chance statement spoken by a civilian woman on the street caught his attention.
"You know, Sayoko said she saw another one of those weird red lights. Like the one that hit Lord Nagato's tower!"
Red light? The memories were vague, but Tobi remembered his time-travel experience being accompanied by a strange red aura. Apparently, Pain and Konan's resurrections had included a similar light-show.
Tobi stopped mid-walk. The woman had claimed that two red lights had been witnessed.
Konan hadn't been resurrected. Then who...?
Tobi began systematically going over the people who had been in the cave during that final, terrible day. Nagato was the only one who should have woken up in Ame.
Unless... the radius had extended beyond the cave. Tobi had positioned other guards, after all.
Tobi tried to remember the identities of the other resurrected shinobi who he had stationed nearby at the time. Suddenly, it clicked. There had been two, placed closer than the others. Kushimaru Kuriarare of the Seven Swordsmen and Hanzo of the Salamander.
Kushimaru, who had sword loyalty to his as the true Mizukage, and Hanzo, who despised Nagato with a hatred even greater than his own.
Drawing the hood of his cloak further over his head to hide his mask, Tobi tapped the woman who had spoken on the shoulder, startling her and her conversation partner.
"Terribly sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help but hear that you were talking about the odd red light that was seen a few days ago. I was wondering if you could point me in the direction that it was spotted in? I'm something of an amateur enthusiast about stuff like that." Tobi asked warmly, giving a self-deprecating chuckle at the end.
"Oh, um, sure. It was, um, near Nasaki, about a hour's walk north from here." The woman said, caught slightly off-balance by the request.
Tobi smirked under his mask. Maybe he wouldn't need the Rinnegan after all.
xXx
Done!
My first real fight scene! Nifty.
A question, for anyone who cares to answer it. This chapter is around 3,300 words long, and took around four hours to write. How does that compare to how quickly you usually write stuff? Does everyone else write at a similar pace, or am I just incredibly slow?
Up next time: Hidan, Kisame and Deidara are tasked with guarding lovable old drunk Tazuna on his long trip home. But is this mission to Wave really as easy as it seems? Or are more sinister forces at work?
Without your feedback, this is where this story could end up. Mission to Wave. Think about it.
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