Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

Naruko's Mindscape

Chapter 10: Believe

One moment she was about to free the kyuubi and the next she was sitting on her behind in a place that resembled nothing of her watery and rundown mindscape. Instead in its place was something more pure and beautiful. The space had no ground or sky, everything was perfectly identical, it was as if she were simply floating there wrapped in a warm light. "Naruko, this is the last time I am going to redo the seal keeping the kyuubi contained inside of you," a loving and gentle voice scolded.

"F-father?"

"So you've been told about us…" however Minato was unable to finish his words due to Naruko having landed a well-placed punch right in Minato's gut.

"Why would you ever want to seal the kyuubi inside of your own child?! Do you have any idea what I have been through because of that?" Naruko cried out as tears streamed down her whiskered cheeks. "Everyone either looked at me with anger and disgust or completely ignores me. When I was younger I was totally alone. I never had friends or anybody to rely on. I never even knew if somebody loved me! So then I trained and trained so that I could become as strong as I could be so that I could become hokage because then everybody would have to acknowledge me. Slowly I started making friends, I met Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, the pervy-sage, Sakura, Sasuke, Gaara, and a bunch of others, and they all helped to make me stronger. And now…and now everything is falling apart. The village elders forced me to marry Sasuke so that their precious sharingan can be revived and to top it off the akatsuki are attacking the village and have killed so many innocent people and so many of my friends and I couldn't protect them! Dammit I don't know what I am trying to say or why I am even telling you these things! It's not like it matters because you're dead!" Naruko finally finished before she had started to sob into her arm.

"Naruko," Minato started as he walked up to Naruko and put his hands on her shoulders. "How old are you now?"

"Tw-twenty."

"Twenty years old already. It must have been hard for you Naruko and I'm sorry, I really am. Though I suppose it is of little consolation if I apologize now after having put you through all that difficulty."

"No, it's fine. After all, I am the daughter of the fourth hokage and I'll deal with it," Naruko replied back emotionlessly.

"Since you asked, when you were born I sealed half of the kyuubi's chakra inside of you because I believed that you had the capability to master the power that came with it. I did it because you are my daughter, and there was a reason I went to all the trouble to do this and it was a big one. Twenty years ago on the night you were born someone planned out and orchestrated the whole kyuubi attack on the village."

"What? Who?" Naruko questioned.

"He was a formidable shinobi, someone who you would need extraordinary power to stand against and succeed and I believe that he will attack the village again," Minato stated dead serious.

"But the leaf village has already been destroyed by Pein…"

"Yeah I know. I saw everything from inside your mind."

"What? You watched all of that?" Naruko questioned in amazement.

"I know about Jiraiya-sensei too," Minato added sadly.

"So was Pein the one who attacked the village that night and used the kyuubi?"

"No, it wasn't Pein who attacked that night."

"Then who was it?" Naruko demanded

"It was a member of the akatsuki, however it was the one who always hides his face behind a mask. When we fought he saw through every single one of my moves. It was extraordinary, and I believe it is the masked man who is using Pein."

"What? Why is Konoha always a target?" Naruko cried out as she stamped her feet on the ground as though she were a child. "I don't understand."

"As long as the shinobi culture exists, there will always be war and strife, there will never be true peace. In order to protect things that people deem precious wars will always be waged. As long as there is love, there will always be hatred and there will always be those that will take advantage of that hatred. As long as we have this shinobi system, hatred will always continue to live and give birth to an endless number of Pein's. Pein may have killed Jiraiya-sensei, however if you look deeper one could say that this twisted shinobi world was the one who created Pein and then in turn killed Jiraiya-sensei. To be a shinobi means you must confront hatred and every single one of us must battle against that hatred. Jiraiya-sensei bestowed upon you the quest to find the solution that would end this never ending cycle of hatred."

"But how can I do that when I can't even begin to find a way to forgive Pein for what he has done to the village and to my friends? He killed Jiraiya-sensei! He was the only family I had ever known and now he's gone! How am I supposed to forgive him for that?! Father, please tell me! What should I do?"

"You have to find that answer for yourself because even I do not have that answer."

"What? If you and the pervy-sage don't know the answer then how am I supposed to figure it out? Everyone expects so much of me! I've had to fight tooth and nail to get to where I am today and given them everything and yet that's still not-"

"Naruko," Minato interrupted as he cupped her face with his hands and wiped away her tears with his thumbs. "I believe in you completely, and it is because of that I know you will be able to overcome anything, including finding a way to stopping the cycle of hatred that exists in the shinobi world."

"Y-you do? You really believe that?"

"Well it is a parent's duty to unconditionally believe in their children after all. Now, I do believe that it is time for me to go, my chakra is beginning to fade," Minato said with a sad smile as he examined his faded hand.

"Huh? No! Don't go!" Naruko pleaded.

"I'm sorry Naruko. I'll rebuild the seal now," Minato lamented as he reached out to Naruko's exposed stomach and touched the black hole that had taken over the seal markings. "This will be the last time I can do this," he continued as he poured he last of his chakra into it as the hole disappeared and the familiar markings reappeared. "The hidden leaf can and will be rebuilt. Naruko, you can do this. I believe in you and I always have. I love you my precious daughter," he finally finished as he completely faded into the background leaving Naruko standing there with a fierce look of determination in her eyes.

Thank you father, I will make you, and mother proud.

Real World

Pein had just successfully trapped Naruko's rampaging eight tale form in his planetary devastation jutsu, or so he thought. Through pure rage she had begun to dig herself out of the massive ball-shaped clump of earth that had formed around her and floated up into the air. Soul freezing roars echoed off the rock walls that surrounded their battlefield as Naruko continued to dig with more and more ferocity, as she did giant boulders started to fall to the ground.

"She's actually digging herself out of planetary devastation! I'm going to have to increase its size and then…" however Pein was interrupted as Naruko's eight tailed form suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke. In its place stood a fierce and somewhat ferocious looking Naruko with her arms crossed and without warning the giant ball of earth started to crumble and fall to the ground.

Ugh, transforming into the kyuubi disrupted my chakra. The shadow clones I created earlier as backup for my sage jutsu dispelled, so now I only have one chance at this…great.

The moment Naruko landed a giant plume of smoke in the distance caught her eye, "the village is over there, what is that dust cloud?"

"You did that Naruko while you were transformed into the kyuubi," a fragment of lady Katsuyu said as she suddenly slithered out from one of Naruko's many pockets and travelled up to her shoulder. "Do not worry Naruko, there were no casualties as a result of your transformation even though you did completely transform into the kyuubi. We were all very lucky."

"Thank goodness, you do not know how much of a relief that is."

"The time has come to end this jinjuriki," Pein shouted out which brought Naruko out of her stupor. "Do you finally understand pain? Unless you understand the pain of others, you cannot truly understand someone else. And just because you understand them, that doesn't mean you will agree with them, and that is the truth. That is why for all those years Sasuke eluded your grasp, and even now he will still elude it. Just because he stood up for you doesn't mean a thing. He still despises you and thinks you are annoying. The only reason he did stand up for you was because he wanted that annoying medical shinobi to implant his brother's eyes for him. Though now none of that matters because your village is destroyed and many of your precious friends are dead…"

"Just shut up already! Take me to the real Pein so I can talk to him face to face!"

"Oh, you've figured it out have you. First it was Jiraiya-sensei and now you. You Konoha shinobi are persistent and somewhat impressive. However this little discussion of ours is over and any further conversation will change nothing, Naruko Uzumaki."

"I just want to talk with the real you…"

"You are in sage mode and if I remember correctly you can only create a total of two of those troublesome jutsu. And by going on your little rampage you have put yourself at your limit, Naruko Uzumaki. I will bring you to the point of death before I haul you off!" Pein declared before he suddenly charged towards Naruko with a metal rod in his left hand.

Lightning fast Naruko sidestepped Pein's attack and simultaneously she grabbed ahold of the rod and broke it in half before she quickly jumped out of reach and kicked Pein several feet away. Much to lady Katsuyu's surprise, Naruko then rammed the broken piece of metal into her shoulder.

"Naruko what are you doing?!"

"I've got an idea, these things are chakra receivers so if I use my sage mode and feel for the real Pein's chakra I can find him…at least in theory." Following her hunch, Naruko sent out her chakra through the rod and quickly traced the puppet Pein's chakra back to the original source. "Found you!" Naruko exclaimed with a triumphant smirk.

"How dare you," Pein threatened as he stood from the rubble.

Still with a smirk Naruko made two shadow clones and quickly made a rasenshuriken. The moment her jutsu had formed the two clones each threw a smoke bomb that quickly saturated the air with a thick purple smoke. Out of the smoke Naruko's first rasenshuriken flew and headed right for Pein who quickly deflected it with his almighty push. However to Pein's surprise, Naruko had already thrown her second rasenshuriken and disguised it with the shadow shuriken jutsu.

I have five seconds before he can attack again, I can do this, Naruko thought to herself as two of her shadow clones appeared next to Pein. However, Pein created two metal rods and quickly did away with the clones and easily dodged Naruko's second jutsu by jumping high into the air. The moment Pein landed, the rubble that surrounded him began to turn into Naruko clones who then started pilling onto the unsuspecting Pein. However the moment they started to pile onto him, the five second time limit ran out and he sent all of the clones flying with his all mighty push jutsu. Having been caught in the jutsu as well, Naruko quickly created more clones that slowed her fall.

"How do you keep stopping everything I throw at you? You are the most annoying brat I have ever encountered! Just lay down and accept your fate!" Pein growled out in frustration as he fell to his knees.

Panting heavily and with the help of her two remaining clones she started to create a rasengan. "I will never just lay down and give up! I am going to defeat your puppet and then I am going to find the real one of you so I can make all of this right! So stop telling me what to do!" Naruko proclaimed as her two clones flung her into the air and as her jutsu made contact with the stunned Pein and as Naruko's jutsu collided with Pein they were both sent flying back opposite directions.

Once she had recovered Naruko slowly walked over to the now unmoving Pein and knelt beside him before she started the grueling job of removing all the tiny metal rods that were embedded in his body.

"What are those?" lady Katsuyu asked as Naruko removed one after another out.

"These are how the real Pein controlled the fake ones and gave them their chakra, so if I take them out then this one shouldn't be a problem anymore." After Naruko had removed all of the rods she slowly stood up and tightened her ponytail.

"Are you going now?"

"Yeah, there's still something I've gotta do."

"You will need reinforcements, you can't do this on your own!"

"No!" Naruko yelled out. "No one else, I am doing this alone."

OoOoOo

As she was jumping through the tree branches as she made her way to the real Pein, she was interrupted by Inoichi, Shikaku, and a member of the Hyuga family named Kou.

At sensing their presence Naruko came to a halt. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"What happened? Did you manage to defeat the sixth and final Pein?" Inoichi inquired.

"It doesn't matter who won or not…"

"Tell us what happened Naruko," Shikaku coaxed.

"You know it's hard to explain, but it doesn't matter anymore because right now I am going to see the real Pein. Don't try to follow me because this is something I need to do alone."

"But why alone? You could be killed!" Inoichi protested.

"I want to speak with the real Pein."

"That is nonsense! Don't get me wrong Naruko we are all grateful that you defeated Pein, but just talking? It is too late for that!"

"And what will killing the real Pein solve? What will happen when his followers and his village come for revenge? Do we destroy them too?"

"And what good will talking to him do? Pein is an enemy of Konoha who destroyed the village! We can never forgive the likes of him!" Inoichi shouted angrily.

"What makes you think I feel any differently than you? I want to make him suffer for what he has done! He has murdered so many innocent people and many of my friends…"

"Then why do you just want to simply talk to him!"

"Inoichi, this argument is pointless. Let's respect Naruko's wishes and let her go on ahead by herself," Shikaku cut in suddenly. "She is the one who managed to defeat the others so I think she has the right to speak with the real one. Besides she's probably got something planned out for when she gets there so just let her go Inoichi."

"Thank you Mr. Shikaku," Naruko said solemnly as she turned around and once again started to jump through the tree branches.

OoOoOo

After she had stopped to gather more nature chakra, Naruko soon found herself standing outside of an enormous tree that was made entirely out of pieces of paper. With little effort Naruko ripped through the pieces and stepped inside to reveal a sickly looking man supported by an odd looking machine and a woman with blue hair who wore an akatsuki cloak that quickly jumped out to protect the man.

"Nagato!"

"No Konan, stay back. It is alright," the man in the machine ordered in a tired voice as Naruko approached.

"Are you the real Pein?"

"Naruko Uzumaki the peacemaker has managed to stumble into my hiding place. So tell me Naruko Uzumaki, do you hate me? Am I now the object of your vendetta? Do you want vengeance for what I have done to your precious village and friends? If you could not find the answer to achieving true peace then do what is right and just sacrifice yourself to me and to the peace that I will achieve!" Then suddenly without warning the machine that was supporting Nagato opened up and shot out a metal rod which embedded itself in Naruko's abdomen.

"With that rod and from this distance I have the capability to completely control your every move with my chakra. But don't fret it won't kill you, I made sure to miss all of your vital spots my precious little jinchuriki…" however Nagato was silenced when Naruko suddenly looked up at him, her eyes were a bright crimson and were mixed with her sage mode. And the sudden onslaught of Naruko's heavy and murderous chakra sent chills down his spine.

"I came here because I wanted to talk to you and because I wanted to see how I would feel when I looked into the eyes of the person who has taken everything from me. I wondered what I would do."

"And?"

"I want to kill you! I want to take my fangs and tear out your throat, or grab your heart and rip it out from your chest as it is still beating!" Naruko bellowed as she gripped the rod and pulled it from her body. After it was free, she charged at the two akatsuki members but only to be stopped short as Konan jumped in her path.

"Jiraiya-sensei said that he truly believed that one day there would be a day when everyone would understand one another, and to tell you the truth when he would lecture me I wasn't really paying attention. But now that I am older, I think that I finally understand."

"That is a nice sentiment, however that doesn't change that you cannot forgive me for what I have done. What Jiraiya-sensei thought is outdated, that era is long gone. So do what you said you came here for, take me down and bring peace to the shinobi world. Or were those empty words and instead you just came here for your own personal revenge. Now that you have experienced true pain and have seen reality, can you still truthfully believe in Jiraiya-sensei's outdated ideals?"

"Yeah, you may be right that the pervy-sage's ideals are a little outdated, but he truly believed that there would be a day when people could truly understand one another and live together with one another in peace and harmony. But even though I understand you and your pain, that doesn't change how I feel about you. There is no way I can forgive you!"

"So you still want to fight this out then," Nagato stated plainly.

"I want to so badly…but, Jiraiya-sensei believed in me and wanted me to continue his quest for peace and it is because of that I will believe in him and follow his teachings. I will not let him down because he never gave up on me. So I will not fight you guys, I will leave you in peace and that is my answer," Naruko stated proudly as she grabbed Jiraiya's gift that he had given her a few years back. It was a copy of the first book he had ever written and the main character was whom she was named after.

"After everything that has happened you still chose to follow Jiraiya-sensei's teachings? And you expect us to sit idly by while you try to figure out how to obtain peace? How do you expect me to believe in Jiraiya-sensei's teachings after everything I've been through?! There will never be such a thing as true peace, not as long as we are cursed to live in this shinobi world! Peace is impossible!"

"Well then, one day I am going to break that curse! I don't care what you say!" Naruko shouted back. "If there is such a thing as true peace then I will find it, even if I have to fight until there is no breath left in my body to find it! I will never stop looking and I will never give up!"

"Th-those words…"

"Nagato, what's wrong?" Konan questioned.

"Yeah, those words were from the pervy-sage's first book. He was seriously trying to change the world with those words, and in the back of the book he wrote a message. In the message," Naruko started as she opened the book to the page, "he wrote about a student that gave him inspiration and that student was you, Nagato."

"B-but…"

"The main character's name is Naruto and I was named after him. My name was gifted to me and I will not squander that precious gift from my sensei. So I will not give up! I will become hokage and I will bring peace to this world! So believe in me!"

"Why should I believe in you? What is stopping you from ever changing your mind somewhere down the road if the task becomes too difficult? Can you guarantee that you will always believe in yourself? How can you have that much faith?" Nagato angrily questioned.

"You're not the only one who has ever known pain," Naruko replied somberly. "It seems like pain is all I've ever known. From the moment I was born I was alone. Because of what I am everyone hated me and treated horribly, for some of the things they did they probably should have been thrown in jail. Then my team came along and I finally started making friends, but even that didn't last long. We started to rip apart and no matter what I did, nothing worked. These past few years I've worked myself until I've passed out from exhaustion to get to the level I am now, but even now that's not good enough," Naruko quietly laughed. "My own village threatened to seal me away if I didn't do their bidding and yet here I am protecting it with everything I have. But Konoha is my home. My parents and Jiraiya-sensei all died to protect it and I will not let their deaths be in vein! Yeah there will always be pain in the world and it is impossible to foresee what kind of pain I will experience in the future, but if I gave up and stopped believing just because things get difficult, then I would be letting down our sensei! No matter how much pain and agony my path brings, I won't give up, I will just keep walking! Because that is who I am!"

"Naruko Uzumaki, we have shared the same sensei which makes us sibling students. At first the thought made me want to do nothing but scoff at the idea. Now however, you have reminded me of someone."

"Reminded you of someone?"

"Yes. Naruko, you remind me of myself when I was much younger. However, as I grew I wasn't able to believe in Jiraiya-sensei's words any longer, nor could I believe in myself," Nagato admitted with his head held low. "But when I look at you, the future doesn't look as bleak. So…I think I will believe in you after all, Naruko Uzumaki. I will use Gedo Art of Rinne Rebirth."

"Nagato no! You can't!" Konan interjected.

"Konan it is alright. This is my choice and I chose to no longer give up hope."

"Wait, I don't understand. What kind of jutsu are you planning to use?" Naruko asked as she got into a defensive position.

"Those that possess the rinnegan such as Nagato can perform all the jutsu that the six Peins' used. It is even said that they exist outside the realm of life and death and it is Nagato's visual ability itself that presides over life and death. In short Nagato is the seventh Pein," Konan explained.

"Gedo Art: Rinne Rebirth!" Nagato suddenly shouted out after he had amassed enough chakra to complete his jutsu.

After several minutes of nothing happening Naruko finally spoke up, "what is he doing? What just happened?"

"Naruko! More and more villagers that had perished in the attack are coming back to life!" lady Katsuyu suddenly proclaimed as she crawled back onto Naruko's shoulder from her pocket.

"Wait? Seriously? Nagato, did you just…?"

"War inflicts pain and death on everyone it touches, and the more precious someone is to us, the harder it is for us to accept that they might die. Generations that don't know war, such as yours, believe that they are untouchable and that death cannot reach them. War brings on senseless death which in turn renews the cycle of endless pain and hatred. War creates war. These are the things you will face in the coming days, Naruko. It seems like this is my end," Nagato said with a small laugh as the paper tree started to disintegrate. "Naruko, I believe that you can, and that you will, bring peace to this world…"

By the time the tree had fully disintegrated, Nagato had paid the price for the rinne rebirth jutsu and was now being wrapped, alongside the body of Yahiko who was once being manipulated to be a puppet of Pein, in a paper tomb by Konan.

"What are you going to do now? You're not going back to the akatsuki are you?"

"No, I am leaving the akatsuki. Those two meant everything to me and now their dreams have been entrusted to you. Nagato chose to believe in you, so now I will do the same as well." Suddenly Konan gathered chakra into her hand and created a bouquet of roses made out of paper before giving them to Naruko. "This time I wish that you will be the blossom of hope that will never wilt away."

"Thank you Konan, I will never forget this," Naruko whispered as she accepted the flowers before the two parted ways.

OoOoOo

While on her way back to the village, Naruko stopped and made a small shrine out of several small rocks and some kunai. As she knelt before it she prayed that the pervy-sage's spirit could find rest and that he was proud of her for what she did today, and before she left she laid the flowers Konan gave her as well as the book Jiraiya had given her. However her journey back to the village wasn't an easy task. Her body was fatigued from severe chakra loss and from where that last rod had pierced her abdomen, the wound was still bleeding. Just walking took every ounce of her concentration as sweat poured down her face and neck and her breaths were coming in labored gasps. Soon it had all become too much for her battered body. Her vision faded and her legs betrayed her, she was too tired to even hold her hands out to break her fall. The last thing she remembered was falling before she completely succumbed to the depths of unconsciousness.

Sorry for taking so long for updating! But I'm back and here is the newest chapter! I hope you guys like it!

I went through all the old chapters and fixed a lot of grammatical errors and a few other plot holes.

Sorry again for taking so long for updating!