Author Note
Hello everyone and welcome to another chapter of Regret.
I bet that everyone wondered how many parts would be before the end, but I will come out and say it, this is the last one. Therefore, whatever happens happened. I will also refrain from answering the reviews, because I wish to keep up the suspense until the last word. So without further a due, let us proceed.
Chapter 25 – Final Battle Part 3
Beta: Kyuubi123
While the destiny of the elemental nations was on the line, one man in particular was busy conducting several experiments that if successful, could help him become the most powerful shinobi ever to roam the elemental lands. After collecting the remnants of Orochimaru and synthesizing his blood, one Yakushi Kabuto began the procedure of injecting Orochimaru's blood into himself. His theory was that by doing so, he would have all the capabilities his master possessed and by doing so, he could continue the sannin's job in creating the perfect body. Kabuto had helped his master in planning the next steps, but it seemed that Akatsuki came in the way and decided that the sannin should not live anymore.
However, after five failed attempts, Kabuto's body just could not adapt to the snake sannin's blood. The medic-nin theorized that his special healing technique would be enough to handle the strain.
Right now, the IV drop was strapped to his right arm. Kabuto's arm muscle was simply huge compared to the rest of his arm as veins budged from his biceps. The pain was evident by the amount of sweat on his face and the wet tissue he was biting like his life depended on it. He could not allow himself to quit the procedure. Orochimaru had to live. As the snake's right hand, it was up to Kabuto to make sure that the man's vision became successful. He let out a good list of curses as he concluded, for the sixth time, that nothing happened. He was about to store the rest of Orochimaru's blood when his body suddenly convulsed in pain. He kneeled on the ground, holding his stomach in desperate need to ease the pain.
It was simply unbearable.
His body started to suffer a shape transformation, the likes of which he did not foresee. The skin of his arm became much more hardened, resembling a reptile's skin. His teeth became sharper until it resembled like snake fangs. His entire body shifted into one of a human sized snake, until only his gray hair remained human. The eyes slitted, Kabuto…well if he could still be called as such, looked around flickering his tongue, while crawling on the ground, the only thought in his mind right now was the next meal. What Kabuto did not take into consideration, however, was that the only reason Orochimaru took after a snake in appearance was that he conducted his ritual together with the snake clan. Kabuto, on the other hand, had not.
In Konoha
Below the Hokage Tower, the tension was quite thick as the people inside felt the earth tremble occasionally. The Hokage and the Raikage followed by Nara Shukaku stood inside a special room that was built as a war room of sorts. Each of the three villages had chosen their best sensors to in order to monitor the army's chakra levels and the enemies' as well. The Raikage's secretary Mabui was in charge of coordinating the information generated by the sensor unit back to the Kages. Aside from that, Tsunade had dispatched four Hyuuga clan members and four Yamanaka clan members in key locations throughout the battlefield. The Hyuuga clan would use their byakugan to scan the field while the Yamanaka members worked in sync transmitting the Byakugan generated images back to headquarters.
All the images were transferred to Yamanaka Inoichi back in Konoha. Inoichi had a special machine on his head that helped amplify his reach and even lower the chakra usage rate. Said coordination efforts allowed the Kages to receive immediate updated information of the battlefield, both good ones and bad ones. With Baki being the only casualty so far, Naruto and Sasuke managed to turn back the odds by defeating one of the members known as Konan. Darui of Kumogakure also managed to defeat Deidara. Shizune, Sakura and a team of medic-nin had already retrieved Darui to be treated.
Tsunade had seen Konan through one of the images and instantly remembered the little blue-haired girl she and her team found after fighting Hanzo of the Salamander. Tsunade just could not help but wonder if Jiraiya had the right idea by helping those kids back then. From the information gathered thus far, it seemed that the worst fights were against the leader of the organization, Pein. The Raikage was quite shocked to see the Rinnegan in not one but six foes. Despite the initial information that Jiraiya's team managed to defeat a few of them, everyone was surprised when all six foes appeared all of a sudden, as if nothing had happened.
"Do you believe this Pein can be defeated, Tsunade?" The Raikage had the feeling that Pein might be too much and may defeat even Jiraiya the Sannin. The Senju sannin maintained a worried expression and she could feel the immense pressure on her shoulders. She did believe that the enemy would be defeated, but she feared that Pein would take one casualty with him to the afterlife and that could mean either one of the three that was currently fighting the Rinnegan. However…
"I have every faith that Jiraiya will see it through. He also has capable ones helping him. Naruto is not only the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, but he also is an A-ranked shinobi. Uchiha Sasuke has the Mangenkyou Sharingan." The Raikage made an understanding sound and looked at the Nara clan head, who, in turn, was looking at the Hokage with concern.
"What is our professional opinion, Shukaku-san?" Shikamaru's father looked at the Raikage and closed his eyes with a thoughtful expression.
"It's needless to state how capable Jiraiya-sama is and Uzumaki Naruto possesses enough power and speed thanks to the fox's chakra that he is a threat to the enemy. Sasuke, however, as we had seen, suffered great injury against Pein. He is only alive right now because of Naruto's impressive speed. Right now, all he can do right now is use his eyes against Pein while providing support for Jiraiya and Naruto." The two Kages nodded at the assessment, as they waited for the next batch of information coming from the battlefield.
Gaara and Kakashi
Kakashi and Gaara stood facing S-ranked member and mercenary Kakuzu from Takigakure.
When the battle started, the enemy appeared to be overwhelmed when facing both an elite jounin and kage level shinobi and jinchuuriki. At first it appeared that his only expertise was in earth techniques. Even if he used high level and highly menacing techniques, it was still only earth release techniques and he was facing a lightning user in Kakashi and a wind and sand user in Gaara. When he released his robe and showed the black substance that seemingly appeared from within his body, the fight had escalated. Kakuzu inclined his body forward and from his back, four creatures made of the same black substance appeared lined up. All of them had masks.
All of a sudden, instead of two against one, Kakuzu now had turned the tables, adding four enemies against only Kakashi and Gaara.
"What do you think Kakashi?" The elite jounin had his sharingan active while looking at the mysterious foes in front of him.
"I don't know yet…we will have to discover their abilities while treading carefully. I am afraid that we cannot fight him using the same tactics as before." Gaara nodded, before manipulating his sand and sending a wave towards the enemy. The best way to push an enemy into revealing his abilities was to attack and see the results. All five of the enemies evaded the wave, before one of the creatures opened the mask mouth, aiming at the Kazekage. Kakashi saw with his sharingan the familiar chakra molding.
Raiton Gian (Lighting Release False Darkness Technique)
The thin laser type technique charged at Gaara who used the sand on the floor to lift a barrier. The lightning however passed through and pierced Gaara's chest. Kakashi stiffened for a second, before he saw Gaara turning into sand and falling on the ground. The real one attempted to attack Kakuzu once more, with another wave, but Kakuzu dodged once more, barely showing any sort of effort, however Gaara's second sand wave was not the end as Gaara manipulated the sand to attack Kakuzu's back. It would have worked perfectly, had one of the creatures not lifted a water barrier around the enemy, protecting him from the sand attacks. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the foe's new abilities. The original was an earth user; however, these black creatures had shown usage of both lightning and water techniques, rendering most of their possible attacks useless. Kakashi could only venture a guess that the other two had fire and wind affinities.
"You have come up with the same conclusion, I presume." Kakashi nodded, answering Gaara's question.
"Kakuzu is an earth user; however he has somehow acquired mastery over all five elemental techniques. I can see with the sharingan that the creatures use the techniques, however Kakuzu performs the hand signs. I still do not know what these creatures are, though. Do you, Kazekage-sama?" Gaara looked at the enemy with his calculative gaze.
"The perks of being a Kage is one hundred percent access to every sort of material in my village. One scroll of interest was the Shodaime Kazekage's journal. The man had been quite busy facing many powerful enemies from other villages. One entry in particular did not give the enemy's name, but the description of his appearance and skills matches with Kakuzu, missing-nin of Takigakure. The bingo book did state that Kakuzu had stolen one of the village's most powerful kinjutsu called Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear). According to the Shodaime Kazekage's journal, he did battle these creatures and even managed to kill two of them. I do remember the journal saying that the masks were actually hearts stolen from other shinobi."
Kakashi looked at Gaara in surprise, wondering just how old was this man if he faced the Shodaime Kazekage.
Kakuzu heard the tale and let out a noise in amusement.
"The Shodai Kazekage was indeed a powerful enemy but it actually took an entire battalion of his forces alone to achieve such a feat. I could have killed him easily at the time had I not cared about sacrificing my other hearts. That man was nothing compared to the Shodaime Hokage however. It was because of him that I was able to steal this precious ability. I guess that now the history lesson is over and I shall kill the both of you and acquire your bounties. Kakashi alone is worth quite a lot." The elite jounin tensed as another mask opened his mouth, while Kakuzu molded the chakra.
Katon Zukokku (Fire Release Head Mincing Pain Technique)
Kakashi's eyes widened at the amount of deadly flames coming his way, but he relaxed upon seeing Gaara lift a sand shield that blocked the heat. Some of the sand turned into glass, however, attesting the power of Kakuzu's technique. However, Kakashi did remember Gaara's shared information and he faced the monsters before him with a critical gaze. If the masks were the man's hearts then Kakuzu would have to be the last one to perish. Their focus was now on the creatures instead. As the sand wave receded, Kakashi took charge immediately and attacked the closest creature, the one that used water techniques. Gaara moved as well, already capitalizing on the jounin's strategy. Kakuzu may have decades of experience over them, but he could not hold the two of them. Kakuzu, seeing Kakashi's assault, directed the lightning creature to defend the water one. The lightning creature used another false darkness technique, but it was redirected by Gaara's sand.
Nodding subtly at the help, Kakashi worked relentlessly in taking care of the creature. His sharingan managed to follow the movements accordingly and he was now within striking distance.
Kakuzu saw this as well and ran to intercept Kakashi's famous lightning technique, when he saw Gaara's sand moving from the corner of his eyes.
Suna Shigure Rendan (Sand Drizzle Technique)
From Gaara's sand hundreds of small sand projectiles bombarded Kakuzu, forcing the man to evade the technique. However, he had never taken his eyes away from Kakashi's fight with the creature. He once more attempted to get close to Kakashi but the damn Kazekage's technique kept forcing his hand. Kakuzu used his wind mask creature to bombard the Kazekage with wind bullets, but he was not successful in penetrating the powerful absolute defense. Gaara's skill with it was absolute and it managed to block all the wind projectiles from passing through.
Using the window of opportunity, the elite jounin charged a Chidori and slammed right into the water creature mask, before hearing a gasp of pain from the enemy. Kakuzu held his chest tightly in pain. It has been a long time since he lost one of his hearts and he vowed to take Sharingan no Kakashi's heart before getting his bounty. Kakuzu had more experience than simply presuming the enemy would wait for him to recuperate. Gaara unleashed a fast stream of sand. Kakuzu jumped away from the technique and once more unleashed powerful wind projectiles. The sand blocked it all, but Kakuzu kept using it anyway. When the fire mask creature stood next to the wind mask one, Gaara knew he was in deep trouble.
Both masks opened their mouths and unleashed a powerful wind-fire collaboration technique.
Gaara's sand barely withstood the fire technique. He would not be able to withstand this one. The Kazekage was already making contingency plans in his head, before Kakashi appeared and formed a single hand seal.
Suiton Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Barrier Technique)
The water barrier managed to reduce the heat somewhat, but just could not stop it entirely. He had to jump away, but at least he managed to buy Gaara enough time to do the same. While in the air, the Kazekage managed to manipulate his sand to bind the lightning masked creature. However, before he could finish with the sand burial technique, Kakuzu smashed the sand away with his earth-enhanced fist. Kakuzu then went straight towards Kakashi who looked at him in surprise at the unknown speed in which Kakuzu moved. Kakuzu aimed another earth-enhanced fist straight at Kakashi who could do nothing but place both arms in its path. The elite jounin felt the punch almost break his bones as he flew towards a thick tree. Kakuzu was not done however. He unleashed another barrage of wind projectiles aiming to transform Kakashi's body into a sponge. Gaara managed to lift a sand barrier to stop the projectiles and another sand wave to secure Kakashi from hitting the tree.
"I appreciate it Kazekage-sama." Gaara nodded.
"We still must kill him four times, Kakashi. Jump!" Both jumped right as a lightning beam exploded on their previous position. Kakuzu was already waiting for Kakashi's next position and used his Jiongu to capture and throw him on the ground. He was about to pierce Kakashi's chest to extract the heart when Gaara shoved him away with his sand. Not fazed by the near death experience, Kakashi focused chakra on his feet and charged at the lightning mask with two electrified kunai. He threw the first one, which was evaded by the creature. However, Kakashi had accounted its next position through the sharingan and slashed the mask with enough speed and precision that reminded himself of the Anbu days.
Gaara was facing Kakuzu when once more the man grabbed his chest, after losing his second heart.
"You two has pushed me this far, my congratulations." Kakuzu said in between grunts of pain. "I will kill you both and take away your hearts for my collection." Kakuzu got up just as the masks of fire and wind entered the hole on Kakuzu's back. The enemy went through a transformation as more black threads emerged from his body, just as Kakashi landed next to Gaara. It took a couple of seconds, before both masks appeared above Kakuzu's shoulders. "You two have managed a feat not even the Shodaime Kazekage was able to and for that you can be proud of. However, none of you will escape here alive. Of that I assure you…" Gaara and Kakashi were surprised when the same black threads emerged from the ground and trapped them in place. Both Kakashi and Gaara saw the masks of fire and wind opening their mouths together, which signified only one thing.
At this distance, the collaboration jutsu will kill them no doubt.
The heat of the technique brightened up the entire clearing, enveloping both Gaara and Kakashi as Kakuzu yelled out their deaths in triumph.
With Gai and Kirabi
As soon as Kisame molded the necessary chakra, he gathered an enormous amount of water inside his lungs and released in one go. Both Gai and Kirabi were trapped inside a large dome of water. Kisame was in front of them with a predatory smirk on his face as he knew that not only would they not be able to use their skills as efficiently, but also their mobility was severely reduced. Kisame, however, had no such limitation as he began his transformation. Gai and Kirabi watched the scene as the sword entered beneath Kisame's sleeve, before merging with its wielder. This new enemy was more shark than human being; at least it was more so now than usual.
"You should have capitalized on the advantage when you had the chance. Now you're both in my territory and I'm just getting started."
Both Gai and Kirabi looked at the shark menace with anticipation. Until now, they had managed to keep the tail-less jinchuuriki at bay escaping from his suiton ninjutsu and chakra-sucking sword. However, right now, they were inside the enemy's territory. They both tensed when Kisame swam with speeds that baffled both allied shinobi. He attacked Gai first and the taijutsu managed to block, but Kisame kept on attacking both of them relentlessly. By the end of it all, both shinobi became had many bruises and scratches. It became clear that they could not do a thing against Kisame in the state they were in. Kirabi could see, however, an even bigger problem. Gai was showing signs of drowning. Instantly activating his second form, he grabbed Gai's arm and dragged him away from the bubble, hoping to take him away.
"I can't see the boundary…so much water."
"Bee, the water bubble is in motion and that half-fish guy is at the center! Pay attention. He is faster under water than we are! In addition, he is half fish so he probably breathes through gills. Just running away is gonna get us killed." Kirabi realized that Kisame was after him more than Gai. Capturing the jinchuuriki was in fact Akatuski's goal after all. If what the Hachibi said was true then if Kisame chased him, then Gai would get out of the bubble. With that thought, Kirabi left Gai floating and swam away, hoping that Kisame would take the bait and go after him instead. Kisame, however, smirked and went after Gai who was already unconscious. Kirabi cursed himself and focused more chakra to get there faster. The fish-face anticipated it and waited for Kirabi to arrive with spikes coming out of his body. He grabbed the Hachibi Jinchuuriki.
Kirabi went back to the first transformation, but he released a few octopus tentacles and trapped Kisame.
"Gotcha! No way will you keep taking my chakra! Fool ya fool..." Kirabi shouted as he forced Kisame away from Gai.
"You are indeed worthy of being called the perfect jinchuuriki. To be able to change just one part of yourself into your tailed beast is impressive." Kisame said, just as the water bubble kept moving until Gai managed to escape out of it, falling on the ground unconscious. Seeing as he managed to save Gai, Kirabi now attempted to strike Kisame using his sword. However, he just stopped short as the air inside his lungs ended. He just stood there floating without so much as a single movement as Kisame looked at his pray with a predatory smirk. He would just take his time contemplating how much fun his water technique was and how he was the best in Akatsuki to capture the jinchuuriki alive. While that was going on, Kirabi was busy wondering his strategy.
Perhaps I could use the lariat…
"Don't…he's ready for everything you can throw at him now…you're best option is to run!"
Kirabi nodded and focused on a single hand seal, before concentrating on gathering ink. He released it all in one go and the water became dark. However, despite the smokescreen, Kisame was able to reach Kirabi and land a series of blows that knocked Kirabi unconscious. The sword had drained his chakra completely. The Hachibi's chakra was gone as well. Kisame released the bubble before staring at the unconscious jinchuuriki on the floor. He then released the transformation with a smirk on his face as he was about to complete his task after all. He soon walked toward the jinchuuriki hoping to chop off his legs so that Kirabi could not escape from his grasp. However, before he made one more step, he was sent flying courtesy of Gai. Kisame looked at him and saw that the man's skin was almost black and an yellow energy surrounded him. Gai pressured and continued the attack, landing powerful blows at the enemy and even one that sent the sword flying.
Try as he might, Kisame just could not defend himself against someone who released six of the chakra gates.
The man had simply lost count of the number of ribs broken by Gai's attacks.
Gai swung his leg and sent Kisame flying…the fish face was almost unconscious seeing as he was separated from his sword. Gai then fell into position with both his hands extended and his fingers entwined. The concentrated energy of the opened chakra gates followed by the air pressure by Gai's taijutsu move impacted Kisame with enough force that many bones were shattered inside Kisame's body. Gai's third most powerful taijutsu move called Hirudora (Daytime Tiger). The last swordsman of the Mist was dead before even reaching the ground. In addition, his skin was completely covered with bruises from Gai's attack. The taijutsu beast released the gates and checked the enemy to verify his death. Afterward, he went back to check on Kirabi only to sweat drop as Samehada was there rubbing its body on Kisame as it its life depended on it and it looked like the Hachibi Jinchuuriki was quite enjoying the show of love, much to the Hachibi's dismay at its host's antics. Gai just took a seat near one of the trees for a while, just as the medic-nin team showed up to check on them and collect Kisame's body.
Jiraiya's Team
Naruto, Jiraiya and Sasuke stood there looking at the six paths of Pein. So far, their only achievement was discovering their abilities. However, the six Peins appeared unscathed while the allied shinobi team had utilized several chakra-taxing techniques and Sasuke had received a considerable injury from Pein's iron rod. Right now, only Jiraiya and Naruto were able to face Pein head on, as Sasuke would have to remain on the defensive. Of course, it did not matter to the sharingan and certainly not to the Mangenkyou Sharingan as Sasuke could use all three of the mangenkyou techniques.
"Jiraiya-sensei, it has proven that no matter how much you try, none of you will be able to beat a god. Just hand the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki to me and I'll spare both of you."
All three of the allied shinobi looked at the opposition with fierce resolve, but one of them was busy with a discussion. Kyuubi watched the entire battle and knew that his host had become strong with time. He was still a piece of trash, but Naruto, in the last three years, had developed his skills greatly. He even managed to score a few hits against the fox when they battled in exchange for the energy that his host now uses freely. Still, as he saw his host fighting against a superior foe, the fox remembered his life being inside one Uzumaki Naruto. It all started with that fateful fight that he had against the boy's parents that led to the darkness that was the boy's prison. No doubt, it had a lot of anger as he had just gotten out of the last host and gained his freedom. It was not until the boy was two years old that the fox figured that he would bid his time for when the seal was loosened. All the while, the fox could do nothing but witness the treatment Naruto had because of what happened.
The words 'demon' and 'menace' reached the fox's ears through Naruto's all throughout the boy's childhood. The fox could not help but remember the words that people used in the past:
"Kyuubi, this transient form is nothing more than a nodule. You are only a piece of yourself. You are just an ignorant unstable power…those who shall guide you are the Uchiha. You are simply servants of those with visual prowess…" Uchiha Madara said before molding the chakra through his eyes, yelling for Kyuubi to obey…
"Kyuubi, your power is too great. Regrettably, I cannot let you run loose." Senju Hashirama said.
"When you exert your power, you draw hatred to you. Please stay quiet inside me." Mito Uzumaki said
"This is unfortunate for both of us…you may be here to keep the world in check, but I am here to watch you." Uzumaki Kushina said.
Still…
"When I had access to your chakra, I could feel the amount of hatred you carry with yourself all this time, fox. I now understand the reason behind your behavior…I don't know how but I swear it you that I will do everything I can to rid you of your hatred. It is my promise to you." Uzumaki Naruto said.
At the time, Kyuubi was consumed by anger as the fox had engaged in combat against the boy. Naruto had succeeded in taking the fox's chakra by force, even if aided by the chakra of his long lost parents. Since that moment, the fox was busy contemplating everything he came to know about the human being. For all his extensive knowledge, however, he could not find anything to dispute Naruto's claim that he would try to work over Kyuubi's hatred. And unlike everyone who's ever been in direct contact with the fox, Naruto was the first who did not want to control him. He also did not fear the Kyuubi's presence as a nothing more than an evil entity. The fox opened his eyes slowly as he looked at his jailor standing in front of his cage with a serious expression on his face.
"We need to fight together…" Naruto appeared in front of the fox.
"Ah…the energy you had stolen from me was not enough I take it. No matter how much stronger you say you are, you inevitably comes to me for aid." Naruto frowned at the comeback.
"You're right Kyuubi." The fox's eyes opened in surprise at the statement. "The enemies we face are stronger and are more experienced, hence why I inevitably come to you for aid as you said. However, that's not the reason I came here. I came here because I made a promise to you and I intend to keep it. Our chakra is already synchronized, however I feel as if there is one thing missing for both of us to merge completely." Naruto said as he passed his hand through the metal bars that separated the prisoner from the jailor. The fox looked at Naruto for a while, before snickering in presumed temptation.
"If you were to open the cage, you'd set me free…what guarantee do you have that I won't simply attack you like I did before?" Naruto, unlike Kyuubi expected, did not waver.
"Oh I don't have any…it's just my faith that you'd wish to work together just as I do." The kid had a smile on his face and the fox could not help but smirk as well. "In case you do attack me, though, I would just to whoop your ass into shape once more." The fox smirked even more at the non-offensive comment. Somehow, the fox was not surprised to think about a nice retort to Naruto's comment. Strangely so, in such a good nature, that the fox felt at ease.
"Humm, if we're going to work together, I can't have you calling me by that stupid name anymore." Naruto looked at the fox surprised as the fox's giant fist appeared in front of him. The chunnin bumped fists with a smile on his face, before feeling something that made him happy inside. Both Naruto and the fox smiled deeply at one another at the new bond they formed. "My name is Kurama." Naruto nodded, before turning his back to the fox as the lock that held the cage together started to open. When the lock opened entirely, Naruto barged the cage open as he and Kurama looked at the horizon with excitement quite evident.
"Let's go then Kurama…" Naruto shouted before a bundle of energy emerged from the water, enveloping Naruto entirely.
On the outside, as soon as Naruto opened his eyes, his golden cloak was activated, but much to everyone's surprise, the design was different as instead of his normal clothes, a golden trench coat appeared followed by a fishnet shirt in the middle. In terms of power, however, the difference was calculated in exponential progression. Sasuke had to cover his eyes from such energy, as the sharingan was active. The six paths of Pein all looked at the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki in surprise, before coming to the realization.
"So…you finally managed to merge with your bijuu? This complicates things…" Naruto nodded with a smile on his face as he faced the opposition.
"Jiraiya, Sasuke, please conserve your energy. We can deal with them." Both sannin and sharingan user looked at Naruto and first wondered if he had lost his mind. However, Sasuke was terribly injured and Jiraiya's chakra capacity right now just was too low to give it another go against the enemy. The sannin struggled with himself as he could see the huge difference in power that Naruto possessed now. He could not let the kid face Pein alone. "Please sensei, we have to go all out here to beat this guy so that we can move on to the others. You can count on us." The fact that Naruto was using the plural eluded Jiraiya and Sasuke. The latter, in specific, was livid at the dobe for suggesting such a thing, but even he could not argue about the sudden spike in power.
"You better win this, dobe." Naruto nodded, before Sasuke placed some distance from the fight. Jiraiya too looked uncertain but complied. If Naruto needed him, he would be close to provide assistance.
"You wanted us…so you'll have it." Naruto screamed before joining hands and molding the energy. Instantly, six golden arms appeared from his back and landed a fierce punch on all six of them.
Neither of the paths managed to avoid it, since all six pair of eyes ended up facing the same direction. Naruto didn't let up and used four of the arms to mold wind chakra.
Fuuton Tsuin Rasenshuriken (Wind Release: Twin Spiraling Shuriken Technique)
Jiraiya and Sasuke had trouble keeping up with the fight, before they saw two of Naruto's technique at the same time unlike before when he managed only one at a time. The six Peins saw the two projectiles coming at them fast, before the Petra Path got in front and initiated the absorbing process. Unlike before, however, it was not as easy as the techniques carried a lot of energy. Taking advantage of the second target being occupied, Naruto vanished in a golden light and appeared right in front of the absorbing ninjutsu Pein, before swinging his Bo staff right at the body's head. The power behind the swing was so great that the enemy was smashed into pieces. The five other Peins looked at the attack in surprise, still in denial about the jinchuuriki's power. Naruto wasn't done, however, vanishing once more in a golden flash. He appeared right in front of his first target.
The Naraka Path
As soon as he appeared in front of the Naraka Path, Naruto charged a large rasengan as tall as Naruto himself, before slamming it at the enemy, also destroying it. With these two gone, Pein could no longer absorb ninjutsu, nor could he reform, meaning that right now all that Naruto needed was to kill the other four. As soon as he stepped on the floor, all the animals that were summoned before bombarded him with attacks, but the chunnin could not care less about them, escaping with his superior speed and targeting the bodies instead. He appeared in front of the Animal path, but had to evade the Deva Path's gravitational attack coming his way. Asura Path started the attack, sending missiles after Naruto, who went through hand seals.
Suiton Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Wall technique)
The missiles met a pillar of water rising from Naruto's position, blocking the attack. Naruto followed the water technique with another water technique, sending a tidal wave after the other paths. The summoned animals got in the way, however. The force of the wave, now amplified by Kurama's chakra, took them away. Naruto looked at the reduced opposition with calculative gaze as he considered his next course of action. He now had the advantage, but Pein could not be underestimated.
"Not to mention that our merge is not perfect. You probably have five more minutes in this form." Naruto nodded at the info and vanished this time appearing in front of the Asura Path.
Fuuton Suraisu no Tatsumaki (Wind Release: Slicing Tornado Technique)
The mechanical body was reduced to ruins as Naruto's tornado lifted it off the ground. Looking at the other two enemies, Naruto summoned a kage bunshin to take care of the Animal Path while he attacked the Deva Path. Without the beasts to provide assistance, the Animal Path was easily taken care of by a regular rasengan. The Deva Path, now being the last one, looked at the path of destruction in front of him caused by the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The only way he could think of that would capture the jinchuuriki was a technique he had never thought of resorting to. However, seeing as the Deva Path was the only body left, he did not have a choice. Joining hands in a pray like fashion, the Deva Path formed a small black ball with a lot of chakra. Rumor had it that this technique was used by Rikudou Sennin to create the moon and trap the Juubi's body inside of it.
Chibaku Tensei (Planetary Devastation)
The black ball flew up to the sky, stopping one hundred meters from the ground. The seemingly small black ball attracted everything on the ground. Rocks, plants, trees, everything was ripped from the ground. Naruto felt the gravitational force pulling him up and was about to escape, when the transformation stopped. He could not escape from the gravitational force until his body got stuck on the rock surface. He was about to be swallowed by it when the force stopped and everything that went up was now falling on the ground as if the force had shifted its course. The Deva Path's head looked surprised when it was sliced clean from the body, courtesy of Sasuke's lightning sword.
Naruto looked at the scene while falling with a smirk on his face, while molding wind chakra through the tenketsus located on his limbs to ease the speed of the fall. As soon as he touched the ground, Naruto fell down in slight exhaustion. During the fight, both his chakra and the fox's were used. Naturally, his own capacity only paled in comparison to Kurama's. He needed some rest before moving forward. Jiraiya appeared next to him with a smirk.
"You did not think we'd allow you to face him alone, now did you?" Naruto smirked before turning when Sasuke appeared, on top of a falcon it appeared.
"Once more I had to save you, dobe." This time, Naruto rolled his eyes, as Sasuke just had to say that. Still, they were victorious.
"You two stay here and rest…Sasuke can you point me in the direction you felt the chakra residue?" Sasuke nodded and pointed it. All of them could see two hills by following Sasuke's directions.
Jiraiya and Nagato
The Sannin quickly climbed the hill where he knew that he would find the one responsible for this entire mess. Along the way, he tried to rack his mind trying to anticipate how the conversation would go. Step by step, his eyes landed on something in the horizon. It surely was not human in shape and it worried him greatly. As he got closer, however, he could see a person he recognized. Nagato was there seating in an oddly shaped machine with metal rods strapped to his back. Jiraiya frowned as he saw the state of his student. From appearances alone, Nagato was suffering from extreme malnourishment and the sannin could see more bones and ribs then skin. His old student had really did quite a number on himself.
"Are you here to kill me as well Jiraiya-sensei?" When a student becomes the enemy the master must be the one to kill him is it not?" Jiraiya did not have to be a genius to feel great animosity hidden in Nagato's words.
"I don't have an answer for you Nagato yet. Your actions were indeed criminal as kami knows how many had perished that did not deserve. How many have fallen victim to whatever desire you had." The pervert sannin controlled his breathing as he could feel himself losing his control. It was the first time one of his students became a criminal. He understood his sensei now. "However, despite all that, I still remember you as that kid whose only wish was to protect the ones he cared about. For now, I wish to know what happened to you that turned that little boy into the criminal responsible for assembling the most powerful criminal organization in the elemental nations."
Nagato didn't even blink as he looked at his sensei for a while.
"You wish to know what happened to me after you left us" Jiraiya nodded. "How different the outcome would be? You will no doubt kill me afterward." The pervert frowned but complied.
"Call me curious and even naive, but for some reason, I still see the little boy inside of you. And like I said before, I still don't have an answer for you about that."
Once more, student and master eyed each other, before Nagato relented.
"Very well…I shall tell you everything. In my life, there were two cataclysmic events that helped shape the man I became, sensei. One of them, which you are already aware, had given me the Rinnegan and the Sage's powers. The other was the time I had to kill Yahiko." Jiraiya's eyes widened as he now had the answer to the Yahiko look-a-like that he fought just minutes ago. Nagato first talked about the real creation of Akatsuki, which was formed by himself, Yahiko and Konan. Their first intent was to protect the Land of Rain and its citizens from Danzou and his shinobi. The first Akatsuki organization grew in time and it consisted mostly of shinobi who shared their ideals about the Land of Rain with Yahiko being the organization leader. Nagato then told Jiraiya about one time when a messenger from Hanzou came and presented Yahiko a letter containing an alliance.
"I remember how happy Yahiko became just minutes before meeting with Hanzou to form the alliance. It was his dream that made everyone want to follow him."
Jiraiya could not help but smile at that. He did remember about Yahiko's personality and could not help but see the similarities between Yahiko and Naruto.
"When I and Yahiko arrived at the designated place to seal the alliance, we realized it was nothing but a decoy to lure us in and kill us. Hanzou and his troops were there as well as Shimura Danzou." Jiraiya instantly saw the rest of the story playing in front of him upon Nagato mentioning Danzou's name. He had no knowledge of what happened in Ame, nor did his sensei. It appeared that Danzou had utilized his Root program at the time to influence the world. "Hanzou had used Konan as bait and threw a kunai close to our feet. He threatened to kill Konan unless I killed Yahiko. I took the kunai, but I just could not go through with it. All I ever wanted was to protect them and I have failed. I hesitated, but Yahiko just threw himself at me. The kunai went through and I saw nothing but red afterward. I killed Hanzou and his troops. Danzou, however, took his team and left before I could deal with him."
Jiraiya could not help but look downtrodden at the story. A logical point of view would state that everything he heard was untrue. He had heard lies before used to cover something up. However, Nagato had no reason to lie, not when his life now was at a whim. Jiraiya could sense Nagato's low chakra levels. The rinnegan's threat was eliminated the minute Yahiko's body was destroyed. Danzou always preached about Hiruzen being weak for not taking action against the enemies. From what he learned from Nagato, it was precisely Danzou's actions that created the worst criminal organization to roam these lands.
"Now that you have satisfied your curiosity, what will you do?" The sannin had his eyes closed in deep contemplation when Nagato asked him.
Jiraiya looked up and once more locked eyes with Nagato. He already had the answer to his conundrum. Without saying anything, Jiraiya began a long series of hand seals, while molding a seal formula on his hand.
Jiraiya vanished in thin air and appeared right in front of Nagato as he placed the seal formula on Nagato's head. The seal spread from Jiraiya's hand to Nagato's head and body, earning shouts of scream from the rinnegan user. A white energy surrounded Nagato before it transformed into smoke. The procedure went on and on until Nagato's eyes had lost its usual dark color. He started trembling, while at the same time wondering what it that Jiraiya had done to him was. It didn't take two seconds however for him to realize it.
"My chakra…" Jiraiya nodded in all seriousness expression.
"While I did not have the will to kill you for your sins, even though you deserve it my student, I do need to stop you from accomplishing what you're after. The Uzumakis had crafted a rather ingenious fuuinjutsu seal to apply to their worst criminals. The seal must be placed on the brain and will force all of your chakra out of your body before transforming it into smoke. Uzushiogakure was quite brutal on their criminals, though. Brutal but efficient nevertheless. You must be wondering about your rinnegan, I assume." Nagato looked at him with murder written in his eyes. Jiraiya did remember that look when Nagato started his wind manipulation and could not complete one technique. "Your eyes are now as normal as my own, appearance aside. Since I destroyed your chakra capacity, your shinobi abilities are the same as an academy student. And now for a suitable new home, I guess."
Bitting his thumb, Jiraiya summoned a small green toad.
"What are you planning on doing now?" The toad simply lunged at Nagato with its mouth wide open. When it appeared near Nagato, the former rinnegan user went inside the toad.
"While we deal with the rest of the organization, you'll be living with the toads. Trust me, Nagato, the only way to escape from where you are going is through the toads themselves." The toad sannin returned to his student the second the little toad vanished with Nagato.
Gaara and Kakashi
The fire and Wind mask released their element at the same time, before it merged to form a beam of death. Kakashi's eyes widened in anticipation, as he could not find a way out of this mess. Even a mere substitution he could not do, as there was nothing to replace himself with. Kakuzu smirked in satisfaction, as he would kill the famous Hatake Kakashi and the Godaime Kazekage. As the attack was about to reach them, a sudden sand structure rose from the ground with the similar shape of the one-tailed demon Shukaku. Kakuzu's attack reached the sand shield and exploded upon contact.
Saiko Zettai Bogyo: Shukaku no Tate (Ultimately Hard Absolute Defense: Shield of Shukaku)
Since the attack was in close proximity, Kakuzu's attack generated a lot of smoke and forced the bounty hunter to block his eyes. When Kakuzu opened his eyes, he saw the sand creature standing in front of him, blocking his view from the enemies. However, he didn't have the time to ponder on said technique as a lightning infused fist emerged from his fist, thus killing Kakuzu the third time. Suffering yet another loss, Kakuzu looked at Kakashi's sharingan eyes looking at him. Despite the pain, Kakuzu attempted to understand what happened. He was about to kill both of them with his most powerful elemental technique. Both of them were immobilized from head to toe.
"What did happen?" Kakuzu asked between gasps of pain. Kakashi narrowed his eyes just as the sand creature disappeared, showing Gaara also without the earlier restrains.
"You presumed that my sand manipulation could not function without me using my hands. However, ever since my fateful fight against your allied Deidara, I have trained to improve my level of control. What you saw just now was the personification of the one-tailed demon Shukaku. I managed to absorb the strongest minerals from the soil and incorporate it in my sand. The shield that blocked your technique was made of such improved sand. As to why neither of us are restrained is because my sand sliced the tendrils while you released your technique. Now I believe this fight has gone on long enough." Gaara said as sand started from Kakuzu's feet up to his legs and torso. Kakashi backed off immediately as the sand enveloped Kakuzu's entire body. The bounty hunter tried to move, but for some reason, he could not. Little did he know that the technique in particular carried a binding seal along with it just to make sure that Gaara could finish it without interruptions.
Sabaku Sousou (Desert Funeral Technique)
The bounty hunter's body was crushed instantly, thus destroying the last two hearts. Kakashi looked around for a while, just to be safe as he pondered on the technique displayed just now. Even when Gaara was but a genin, his file was already on every shinobi's mind, chunnin and above. Nowadays, Kakashi could not rank the Kazekage below S-ranked. Not only that, but the Godaime Kazekage, despite being close to Naruto's age, possessed a keen mind to be the Kazekage. Such a powerful ally, no doubt.
"Kakashi, we should assist the others. Nii Yugito and Nii Yougan are battling Hidan right now. I will go assist them. What about you?"
"I will check on my students. I know that Jiraiya-sama is with them, but they are facing the leader right now."
Gaara nodded as both shinobi went on different directions.
With the Nii Sisters
Since the beginning of the fight, the Nii Sisters had dominated the fight against the mad man Hidan. Both of them bombarded the man with all sorts of lethal techniques. Nii Yougan would throw lava release techniques one after another at the man and pretty much in all of the techniques; any other enemy would certainly become charcoal. However, Hidan kept coming as if the battle had barely started. He would just curse the woman's name to the heavens and keep on attacking. Nii Yugito even used all the power granted by the Nibi no Nekomata, but like her older sister; Hidan took all the techniques head on and got back up. It was impossible to kill the man, no matter what they tried. In the end, the consequence was inevitable as Hidan managed to escape from Yugito's blue fire technique and attacked the almost unconscious Yougan. The elder sister did not have much chakra to spare and Yugito did not move quickly enough to stop Hidan from carving his scythe in Yougan's chest.
Yougan released a terrified scream in pain, earning both a demon scream from Yugito and a moan in excitement from Hidan.
Hidan did not waste any time and drank Yougan's blood while drawing a strange symbol on the ground. Yugito looked at the man with rage at Hidan and worry for her sister bleeding on the ground. The situation became a nightmare for Yugito as she could not figure a way out of this situation. Her sister was on the floor bleeding to death and their opponent had been through everything they had and came back unscathed. In fact, short of a bijuudama, Yugito did not know what to do. The bijuu attack, if used, would reach her sister as well and she could not have that. Yugito saw the symbol on the ground and wondered what the man's intention was as she kneeled next to the bleeding Yougan.
"You are indeed lucky girl to be a part of Jashin's cult."
The man's skin became black all of a sudden with white drawings that resembled the human bone structure.
The Nii sisters both tensed as the man took from within his sleeve a black and sharpened rod. Hidan lifted the weapon releasing a screechy-like laughter in joy at what was about to happen. Yugito was about to place herself in front of the weapon's trajectory when she instead saw Hidan piercing his own chest. Her confusion only lasted about two seconds when she heard her sister's sudden scream of pain, holding the area where her heart was. Ignoring the noises made by Hidan that somehow consisted of extreme pleasure, Yugito kneeled once more to check up on her sister, only to see blood coming out of her mouth. She was surprised to feel that Yougan's chakra was fading and looked at her in alarm. The look in the woman's eyes was familiar as Yugito saw it many times upon witnessing one of her peers' deaths. She became frightened immediately and screamed frantically, not permitting herself to believe the truth.
"Oneesan, what happened? Please talk to me?" The elder sister could feel her life force leaving her body.
"Yugi-chan…" She struggled to form her last words. "I believe…this is...the end for me." She could see her little sisters' tears falling freely now and cursed herself for seeing it again. The last time she saw it was when she came back from an A-ranked mission. Yugito's boyfriend was one of the shinobi under Yougan's squad and an Iwa missing-nin killed him. Upon breaking the news to her little sister, the Nibi Jinchuuriki had cried for days and Yougan felt every bit of guilt towards not being able to protect her future brother in law. Now, Yougan, despite being on the verge of dying, felt guilt once more upon not being able to protect her from harm. Her heart ached not because of the enemy's attack, but rather the fact that she was once more the reason why her sister was crying.
"Please don't cry little sister…just seeing you cry hurts more than anything." Yugito could not stop it however as she closed her eyes fiercely shaking her head trying to deny everything.
"You can't do this Oneesan." Her yelling was enhanced by the demonic chakra passing through her coils right now, but Yougan smiled and caressed her little sister's face before wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Promise me something…promise me that you will escape…run away Yugito…you cannot beat him…no one can." Yougan said before her eyes closed slowly. Hidan watched the scene with a wicked smile as his skin went back to normal. Seeing that Yugito was just kneeling next to her sister in apparent shock, he grabbed his three-blade scythe and swung it hoping to have himself another sacrifice, this time a jinchuuriki. Certainly, his lord Jashin will be pleased. When the scythe was inches from Yugito's face, time appeared to stop as the jinchuuriki realized she was being attacked. Her face showed from the metal's reflection. The woman then closed her eyes knowing that she would join her sister soon. She heard a strange noise but wondered why she felt no pain. Opening her eyes, she was surprised to see sand blocking Hidan's scythe. From behind Hidan, Gaara appeared on top of a sand structure with his arm extended.
"Are you alright Yugito-san?" Gaara saw that the sister Yougan was on the ground unconscious. He could not feel her chakra and he could see that Yugito had tears in her eyes.
He did not need an answer to her question. Turning to the enemy, Gaara manipulated his sand and sent a great number of sand bullets at Hidan, before seeing all of them hit the man, sending him flying. He then approached Yugito to see if she needed assistance.
"That won't kill him…nothing we did was enough. He just kept coming like nothing happened. And people called us monsters." Gaara looked at her from the corner of his eyes before Hidan appeared once more.
"That hurt like hell asshole…you shall become a juicy sacrifice for Jashin as well." Gaara looked at the man for a while, as he processed the information he had on the enemy. According to Yugito, none of their physical attacks worked against him and Gaara knew exactly how fearsome Yougan's lava release techniques were. In addition, Yugito used the Nibi's power and that still was not enough. If the man were indeed immortal, then none of his straightforward techniques would work in their favor. A thought came to Gaara as he observed the man intently. He could be in fact immortal. However, he wondered if he could regrow limbs from scratch. Better yet, if Gaara were to pulverize the man, would he come back? Gaara's thoughts had to stop as Hidan grew tired of waiting and attacked the Kazekage fiercely with his scythe. Gaara flinched as he realized that Hidan got too close for comfort. His attacks were fast and powerful, forcing Gaara to manipulate his sand accordingly throughout the attacks. Throughout the faceoff, however, if one could look closely, Gaara slowly directed some of the grains of sand to gather behind Hidan.
The battle of attrition kept on going for a good two minutes, before Gaara backed off and manipulated the gathered sand to grab Hidan's limbs. The jashin worshipper looked back in surprise as he saw where the sand came from. The sand slowly crawled to the rest of his body, restricting his movements. The scythe was on the ground as Hidan looked at the Kazekage with eyes that promised bloody murder. Gaara focused a lot of charka in both strengthening the sand in order to keep an S-ranked shinobi at bay and covering Hidan's entire body, until only his face remained.
"You can't kill me you bastard…nothing you can do is enough to take away Lord Jashin's protection."
"Let us see how you come back if you're entire body is reduced to dust." Hidan looked at him in confusion, before Gaara closed his extended hand.
Sabaku Sousou (Desert Funeral Technique)
Yugito looked in awe as the man's body was crushed because of the sand. Blood sprawled everywhere while Gaara waited in deep anticipation. After five minutes of waiting, however, it seemed that Hidan was not immortal. Gaara went to Yugito to check if she was okay when he heard the voice once more.
"You motherfucker asshole…son of a bitch." Gaara turned incredulously, before he looked on the ground to see where the voice came from. Hidan was there….well at least his head was. Gaara released the air he was holding as he kept staring at the man cursing Gaara's entire family tree. Gaara simply gathered a ball of sand around his head and closed it just as the medic-nin team arrived to attend to Yugito and collect Yougan's body. Gaara could see that Yugito's eyes lacked the necessary focus while a Kumo medic-nin carried her back to Konohagakure for treatment. He supposed it was high time he returned to the village and checked on his sensei's fight.
Little did he know, however, that the fight had already ended and Baki had not survived.
Team 7 vs. Tobi
Naruto and Sasuke saw Jiraiya go after the real Pein's location. The man did not return, which worried Naruto. Neither of them knew if the six paths were the enemy's only ability and Jiraiya could very well be facing him alone right now. Sasuke, in the meantime, while being attended by a medic-nin, looked at the jinchuuriki's back with a scowl. When he had faced Naruto in battle, the jinchuuriki was using the fox's power, but it was nothing compared to what he witnessed just now. The Uchiha had never seen a person moving so fast before. His sharingan worked hard in order to trace the chakra residue but the blond was already gone when Sasuke managed to spot his location. Not to mention the power of his ninjutsu, who was simply off the charts. Naruto, despite how much Sasuke refused to admit, had become very powerful. The Uchiha learned his lesson in humility as he saw how quickly Naruto dealt with an enemy that possessed the most powerful dojutsu in the world.
Sasuke stopped his wonderings when Kakashi appeared.
"Naruto…Sasuke…are you two ok?" Naruto nodded with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, we managed to take care of our two enemies. Ero-sensei is right now talking with the leader, who was hidden on top of those hills up there the entire time. He had six bodies under his control to handle the fights and each of them had the dojutsu of the Rikudou Sennin. We managed to kill all six of them and now Jiraiya is there dealing with the real one." Kakashi listened to Naruto's brief report and was surpised at the mention of the rinnegan. Just a quick observation, however, showed him enough to corroborate Naruto's story. The landscape was quite simply indescribable and Sasuke was injured on the ground, while a medic-nin was busy fixing what looked like a very considerable wound.
"I guess I'll get to hear more from Jiraiya-sama when he returns. I'm glad you're both okay." Both teens nodded and Naruto was about to comment, when a new voice emerged from nowhere
"Not for long..." Naruto and Kakashi stood at attention immediately before the air shimmered a few meters from their position. When the swirl stopped, Tobi emerged with his arms crossed. The man inside the mask could not have anticipated that his entire organization would crumble in just one day. When the day started, everyone in Akatsuki, except him of course, marched straight towards Konoha in order to capture the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Confident that the extraction would be clean and quick, Tobi chose not to get involved and instead focus on the plans for when it was time to take Nagato's eyes from him and use the power granted by the Gedo Mazou. When he came to inspect the aftermath of Pein's wrath against Konoha, Tobi was surprised to see all of the members of Akatsuki dead with him and Zetsu as the only exceptions. Plus, he just could not know where Nagato was and that infuriated him, because he needed the Rinnegan for his plans to work.
"You again?" Tobi had turned to Naruto. "I honestly did not take you for a coward, using your comrades while you get to watch the fight." Despite the jab intention, Tobi just could not help but chuckle in amusement.
"Comrades is not the word I would use to describe them, but rather simple pawns I was able to use to do my bidding." All three Konoha-nin snarled at the comment, especially Sasuke since the man was talking about his brother. "Together they managed to capture the majority of the tailed beasts. Now I shall step in and take you by force Kyuubi Jinchuuriki." Tobi threatened, before he focused his ocular technique on Naruto, who flinched immediately.
"The same technique that Uchiha Madara used on me…damn those Uchiha."Inside his mindscape, Naruto's personification looked at the fox surprised.
"What is going on Kurama?" the fox, however, narrowed his eyes and snarled at feeling this situation once more. Normally, the technique would ensnare it, but this time, it was different.
"Naruto, let me take over and talk to this mongrel." Naruto looked at the fox and nodded with a smile. In the outside world, Sasuke and Kakashi looked at Naruto worried that the enemy has gotten hold on the Kyuubi somehow. They all looked shocked when Naruto started laughing. What surprised them was not that fact alone, but that Naruto's voice was different…much more different. When his head lifted, everyone could see the red slitted eyes and sharpened teeth.
"Pathetic ningen…you may have succeeded in using that technique against me in the past. As my chakra and Naruto's merged, you can't hope to capture both of us in the same illusion." Tobi's only visible eye narrowed upon hearing the fox's voice rather than the Jinchuuriki's. "My host was right…you're indeed nothing but a coward and should thus far meet a coward's death." Kurama said, before switching places with Naruto once more. Naruto, unlike his fight with Pein, did not use the fox's chakra as Kyuubi was busy collecting more energy to perform the bond once more. That did not mean, however, that he was helpless without it.
"Sasuke are you fit to battle?" Sasuke nodded as he stood next to Naruto and Kakashi.
Naruto started the battle going through a good number of hand seals, before gathering air inside his lungs for a compressed projectile.
Fuuton Kaze Tama (Wind Release: Wind Shot Technique)
The air projectile left his mouth in amazing speeds towards the enemy, who merely stood there as the wind attack passed through him. Tobi summoned Uchiha Madara's gunbai fan and released a gust of wind at the allied shinobi, sending them flying. The enemy didn't waste any time and shunshined near Naruto as he attempted to grab the jinchuuriki. His hand passed through Naruto however as Kakashi appeared with a Raikiri aimed at his heart. As soon as Naruto and Kakashi passed through Tobi, Sasuke appeared in front of the man with his sword posed to strike. Once more, it simply passed through Tobi. It all happened in slow motion as the second the sword passed through Tobi's body; Sasuke had to block a rather powerful punch from the enemy. Sasuke could not stand still because of the punch and Tobi capitalized on that, performing the tiger hand seal, while the air vortex formed around his only visible eye.
Katon Bafuku Ranbu (Fire Release: Blast Wave Wild Dance Technique)
From within the vortex, a thin layer of fire appeared forming a fire spiral on the outside. Sasuke's body was right in the middle of the technique. Using his sharingan, however, Sasuke could pinpoint exactly where the technique was more vulnerable and used to escape. After landing on the ground, Sasuke threw a couple of Raikiri Senbon at Tobi. Once more, however, the lightning senbon passed through the enemy. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and morphed his normal sharingan eye into the Mangenkyou Sharingan. Tobi noticed and stood in preparation. Naruto appeared from behind him with his bo-staff, but Tobi was prepared and used his evasion technique. Sasuke, however, managed to see it in slow motion. His evolved eyes could see just what was happening. He moved one second before the bo-staff began to leave Tobi's body and charged his sword into lightning. Tobi looked at the Uchiha in surprise, barely able to dodge the attack.
Kakashi managed to observe as well with his own sharingan. His students were making progress in forcing the enemy's hand.
Utilizing the same strategy, Naruto and Sasuke attacked once more in deep synchronization as if they were teammates their entire lives. The procedure would repeat itself and Tobi realized he needed to attack instead. Once more using his vortex, he released four-windmill shuriken, two at Naruto and two at Sasuke. Sasuke dodged it easily thanks to the sharingan, but Naruto had to use his bo-staff to block it. He focused a large quantity of wind chakra to make a stand. All of them were shocked, however, when Tobi released a wood projectile from within his sleeve and threw it at Naruto.
Mokuton Sashiki no Jutsu (Wood Release: Cutting Springs Technique)
The shock of seeing mokuton techniques was short lived as Naruto was strongly advised by Kurama not to let the wood projectile hit, unless he wanted roots to grow from within and kill him. Allowing himself a second or two of Kurama's suggested mental image and another wondering just how Kurama knew about this specific technique, the jinchuuriki proceeded to spin his bo-staff rapidly while molding wind chakra. In less than one second, a dome of wind surrounded Naruto.
Fuuton Bouei Engai (Wind Release: Protective Dome Technique)
Sasuke took the opportunity and used the ability granted by the Mangenkyou Sharingan. His right eye began to bleed as he formed a spear out of black fire and threw it at Tobi's back.
Enton Ametarasu no Yari (Blaze Release: Spear of the Sun Goddess)
The black fire spear travelled quickly towards Tobi, before landing close to his foot. The black fire spread just like the original Ametarasu technique would. Tobi ended up being caught in the blast, being forced to escape using his technique once more. These two were beginning to get on his nerves. Tobi looked at Naruto coming from behind him charging his rasengan. The enemy allowed the jinchuuriki to pass though, though. Naruto headed straight to the black fire, before vanishing in smoke, revealing to be a shadow clone instead. Sasuke used his black fire spear once more, but Tobi dodged it this time. He also dodged a barrage of shadow kunai coming from Kakashi who decided to run support for the mean time.
Naruto was about to attack once more when he felt his energy levels skyrocket all of a sudden. With a kyuubi-like grin, Naruto and Kurama merged once more, vanishing in a golden light towards the enemy. Tobi had barely enough time to become transparent. Tobi remembered how his fight went with the Yondaime Hokage and humored that Naruto had finally learned how to move at his father's speed. He had to work extra hard in anticipating where Naruto's attacks would come from in order for him to use his technique. However, it was very hard to do so as the jinchuuriki moved even faster than Tobi believed he could go. Naruto was moving even faster than the Yondaime.
Sasuke saw all of this, however, and with one final effort on his already strained eyes, used the left eye to cast the Tsukuyomi (God of the Moon) on Tobi.
Tobi suddenly was inside another world. However, Sasuke's technique was inferior to Itachi's and he managed to break it in three seconds. However, it was enough time for Naruto to smash a rasengan on Tobi's mask, breaking it. Tobi knew the odds were against him right now. Those two were just too good to be simply teenagers. He needed to even up the odds. Kakashi was closer to him and his chakra levels were severely low, probably because of his fight with another member. Tobi vanished from within a vortex and appeared behind Kakashi, taking him inside the vortex before Naruto could save his sensei. Sasuke, however, just stood there, as his eyes became a dull grey from the curse of the Mangenkyou Sharingan.
Tobi vs. Kakashi
Once inside Tobi's dimension, the leader of the organization managed to even the odds. To believe that Sasuke's Mangenkyou Sharingan could pose that much of a threat, it was surreal. Not to mention the damn Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and his newfound speed. Hatake Kakashi also posed an equal threat, but now he was alone and Tobi would dispose of the man quite quickly. After dealing with him and then those annoying pests, Tobi will take where he left off and continue the Moon Eye Plan.
"Hatake Kakashi…everyone has found some way to ruin my plans greatly and I cannot have that. You shall be the first." The scarecrow jounin looked at the enemy with only his sharingan eye. The fight so far has proven that the enemy was not untouchable, proof of Sasuke's use of Ametarasu and Naruto's rasengan. However, throughout the entire fight, Kakashi had received strange but outright familiar signs coming from the foe in front of him. Naruto and Sasuke bombarded him with ninjutsu and projectiles. Almost all of the attacks passed through the man as if he wasn't there in the first place. It was Kakashi's gained insight on his own sharingan eyes that allowed him to deduce how the enemy's technique worked. The possibility of said statement caused his legs to quiver slightly. His brain worked a mile a second, trying to come up with anything to prove that he was wrong.
This just could not be happening right now.
If Kakashi was right and the technique the enemy used was identical to the one he used with his Mangenkyou Sharingan, then…
"…Obito…!" Tobi was about to move and strike Kakashi when he faltered at the sudden name that came out from Kakashi's trembled voice. They stood still for a couple of minutes, before Tobi saw fit to take off the already broken mask courtesy of Naruto's Rasengan. As soon as he did so, the now revealed Obito heard Kakashi's surprised gasp. It was one thing to suspect the identity. It was another to really see his long lost friend in front of him…alive.
"For someone pegged as a genius Kakashi, you sure took your time to figure it out."
"Why…?" It was actually the only conceivable word that Kakashi could muster at this point as the shock of the revelation was still there; the one that Kakashi was one hundred percent certain that would not lift a finger in the wrong direction…had actually become the mastermind behind all of Akatsuki's actions. For all intents of comparison, it would be the same as stating that Naruto was the leader of the organization. Obito, for his part, narrowed his eyebrows at the simple yet right to the point question.
"You ask me 'why', but I'm afraid you have to be more specific. Why did I do all this? Why did I become the very enemy I swore to beat when we were kids?" There are many possible questions Kakashi, but I guess I can humor you a bit. I guess the best way to explain everything would be to start from the beginning…when I saw you kill Rin!" The sudden amount of killing intent left Kakashi speechless as the scene that gave him nightmares throughout most of his shinobi career. Another mission that went wrong with his team. Kirigakure had captured Rin and managed to seal the Sanbi in her. They attempted to brainwash her into attacking Konoha. At the time, Kiri's Anbu unit tried chasing after her, forcing her to go to Konoha and release the demon. Kakashi charged his Raikiri and attacked one of the enemies, only for Rin to jump in front of his attack at the last minute.
Obito told him his story up to their meeting, including meeting the real Uchiha Madara and the Moon Eye's Plan.
Kakashi just stood there not caring if he was paying attention to the rest of Obito's story. Two of his worst nightmares were everything he could think about. The images of both his teammates dead. The image of shock in Rin and the resigned smile in Obito. His knees couldn't stop shaking and his shoulders felt like they were carrying one thousand pounds. Kakashi just could not move…he could not utter a response to it all. The images kept playing in his head just as Obito stopped explaining everything. Kakashi by this time managed to stop seeing his teammate and focused on the enemy Tobi instead. The revelation hit the scarecrow jounin hard, but there was one thing he just could not forget. The man before him was targeting his own student and sensei's legacy. That thought alone gave him pause and allowed Kakashi to think more clearly. That and the way Obito was looking at him now…he could not see his friend in this new foe.
"You have no idea how hard it had been to get over these two nightmares, but right now you are threatening sensei's son and I won't let you."
Kakashi said before charging his Raikiri once more.
Obito narrowed his eyes as he saw Kakashi's famous technique, before the two started the battle all over again. However, one keen aspect of Kakashi's advantage was that Obito could not use his outer dimension technique to evade attacks. That being said, the man, although S-ranked in nature, was now touchable and even killable. Kakashi crossed the distance in less than a second and slammed his Raikiri on Obito's chest. The Uchiha member, however, managed to dodge and summon two-windmill shuriken. Kakashi was startled at the move and didn't have the time to move, allowing Obito to carve a cross slash in Kakashi's chest all the way to his stomach. The vest blocked much of the damage, but the pain was simply unbearable. Even so, Kakashi managed to procure a kunai and struck Obito's shoulder, piercing it slightly. Obito jumped away as Kakashi ran through hand seals, hoping to catch the Uchiha in mid-air. Obito, however, saw through and mimicked his former teammate's actions.
Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)
Both maintained the techniques active for a while. Obito narrowed his eyes when Kakashi formulated a new hand seal, quickly nullifying his fireball. Unexpectedly, many kunai travelled towards Obito. Kakashi remembered to thank Sasuke for coming up with the idea of hiding projectiles inside fire release techniques. Obito released a snort at the attempt as he quickly deflected the kunai with one of his own. The man was surprised, however, when one of the kunai carried an exploding tag along with it. The explosion made the area tremble, but Kakashi was able to follow Obito's path with his sharingan and charged forward with another kunai. Obito appeared from within the smoke and blocked Kakashi's kunai with a start.
"You and I have the same eye Obito. Everything you do with it, I can see it." Obito snarled.
"And another thing..." Kakashi continued as he continued attacking with his kunai, before piercing Obito's shoulder with said kunai.
"You were never able to use a kunai properly." Kakashi thrust the projectile further, earning another scream from his former teammate. Kakashi took a couple steps back, gathering his resolve for his next move.
Kakashi grabbed a scroll from his vest and bit his thumb for some blood. Quickly opening the scroll and passing the bleeding thumb throughout the paper, Kakashi then focused on a single hand seal positioning the scroll in between his joint fingers. A few hand seals sequences later and he placed the scroll on the floor as the kanji formed around and then vanished elsewhere. The entire movement took less than a second and Obito did not even have time to counterattack.
Kuchiyose Doton Tsuiga no Jutsu (Summoning Technique Tracking Fang Technique)
Kakashi's nin-dogs appeared from behind Obito and each bit Obito in key locations that managed to immobilize him on the spot. Normally, Obito had the strength and chakra to get out of this entanglement, but the fight before managed to push him like never before. Looking up, he saw Kakashi forming another of his famous Raikiri. His eyes were obscured as the man's head was slightly looking down. Gathering the resolve, Kakashi crossed the distance and slammed the Raikiri right at Obito's heart region, earning a short gasp from the leader of Akatsuki. Kakashi, for his part, had blood on his face courtesy of his Raikiri. One thing that Kakashi was not prepared, however, was for the image of the teenage Obito's bloodied face looking at him with a smile on his face. His throat dried instantly as he saw Obito's eyes instantly lose all of its color. As Obito fell on the floor unmoving, Kakashi realized one simple fact.
His Raikiri was created to protect those he cared about…however; it was instead used to kill both of his teammates.
Author Note
Oh man, this chapter took quite a while to finish...many holes to cover you know.
Honestly, I am too tired to say more at this point. It's 3 am right now damn it.
The epilogue is finished as well. I am just waiting for the great Kyuubi123 to send me the revised chapter.
See ya.