Haha! Not dead! Take that mother-nature! Ah, my friends, what an Odyssey it has been to finally return to your waiting arms!

...Um, guys? Hello? Anyone there?

I'm all alone.

No! I won't go back! No more bunking in a dilapidated hospital building! No more noisy roommates who stay up all night drinking! No more abstract mapping exercises designed to bend my mind into origami! No more pine-cones! AAAGGGH!

Okay, I'm good now. And back for a while, too, if I have any say about it. (noticed quite a few errors in this chapter and the previous one, so I better be). So enjoy. Meanwhile, there's work to be done...


"You will know my Pain."

A promise which filled ears as the moon-sized sphere eclipsed their sun.

Everything was so still that things felt as if they had always been that way. As if darkness was forever the monarch over a motionless and cold world. There was no point in running, for everything was fixed in that snapshot of horror.

No, it was simply so large that everything just appeared to be frozen in time by comparison. Things were happening- had been occurring while they were sitting at the breakfast table totally oblivious. This breakaway moon above their home had not always been there, nor had it just appeared. Even now, roofs were being peeled off tile by tile to join its desertion from the Earth, carts from the street lifted up on invisible strings and all the junk which had been lost in alleyways found itself in the air.

There was activity beneath the stillness. Ninja crawling to and froe, towards and away from snakes of smoke becoming tangled up in that giant ball of yarn in the sky. Everything seemed to revolve around that inescapable nexus which threatened to swallow their universe whole.

"Where is the Jinchῡriki for the Nine-Tails? Where is Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Naruto!"

This was not the dream-world where he could do nothing, this was the horrid reality which he was obliged to action.

More clones than he though himself capable of suddenly swarmed the neighborhood, interposing themselves between gaping onlookers who were already at maximum surprise. A sea of orange lifted off the ground in a wave, depositing their passengers somewhere far away from ground zero. Within this typhoon of cries was the yelp of his teammate, barely registering over the sound of so many others. Bara-Ruby had not asked permission before whisking her away.

The copies deposited their civilian cargo somewhere near the far western wall of the village, hoping that would be far enough away. Most of the horde did not have enough chakra for a return trip and simply dispelled themselves to bolster the others. The surviving clones leapt back into the shadow almost immediately, only one halting against that return wave.

Pausing, the original mulled on what Yamato had told his clone about the situation. By then, it was already apparent that the Akatsuki had caught up to him.

Not bothering to relay orders to the rest of him, Naruto instead regarded the extraterrestrial orb looming over his home- a dollop of color next to it winking mockingly. He headed towards that first star of the gloomy night.

"Wait! Naruto! Where are you going?!"

He spared a glance back at his comrade who was clawing her way out of Bara-Ruby's arms, a stalwart gleam in her eyes that was reflected mutely by the pale girl. Biting his lip, he chose to meet the second, searching gaze, mouthing the words to her more than speaking.

'Protect her, Ruby.'

And then he was off. Faster than he ever had before.

He would endure her scolding- if he survived.

Now that he is moving fast, once again everything slows down. Dioramas pass him by in frozen clips of people screaming in horror, mute cries as the bodies scramble over one another. Suddenly a cardboard cutout is thrust into his path.

Nay- it's not a static display, rather a jerky puppet which thrusts its blocky arm at his face.

The metal construct passes through it as his dispersed molecules skip off the hard surface. He reappears out of the Shunshin, skidding with the same momentum across a rooftop until arrested by a chimney which collapses against his back.

Not taking his eyes off the intruder even when one of the bricks tumbled off his head, Naruto slowly adjusted himself to leap off again at any moment. This person, garbed in the ubiquitous Akatsuki robes which barely fit his massive body, and topped with the orange splash of hair he had seen from a distance exuded a disquieting air. A description that when qualified against other members of the criminal organization, was saying something.

"At last, Uzumaki Naruto, we meet face to face."

Speaking in that same monotone condescension which filled every nook and cranny of his surroundings, it was hard to deny. Yet Naruto still felt as if this were not quite true. Feeling as though the man were entirely a machine, and not just that one, jutting monstrosity of an arm.

"And who are you?" Standing with a slight wobble, he debated the use of going for his scythe. His speed had increased, but this man- this thing was on another level. "You Akatsuki's groupie or something?" Defaulting to irreverence, he mocked the gruesome piercings decorating the hulking man's face.

"We are Pain." It 'spoke' again, lips moving, words vocalized, but dull as if they were spoken in a padded room. "And we have come for you."

"Yeah, I got that." Was he far enough away from civilians to use some heavy explosives to escape? This guy didn't seem like the type to be affected by any of his lesser stock. "So now you know where I am, think you could tell your buddy making the giant spit-ball to shove-it where the sun don't shine?"

"There is no point in stalling, Naruto-san." The younger man flinched as his ploy was so easily picked out. "Everyone in this world will know true pain, soon enough."

"Oi-! I'm your target, don't you fucking dare-!"

Gravity lurched as the planetary mass descended behind him. One did not need to be looking to feel the shifting tides of bile in the stomach. He tore his gaze away from the Akatsuki for this occasion as the sphere built from the elements of Konoha was about to be used against her.

"No-"

It was a newfound kind of horror to be subject to this unfathomable scene and not be able to lift a finger to stop it. Even when he had felt helpless to stop things before, at least there had been someone he could rely upon, an extension of his will in the other plane. This was his world, and he was but a hungry ghost reaching out impotently at something that was already gone.

Everything happened too fast, the ground practically leaping up to meet its fate- no, wait, it wasn't just dirt, but wind, water, fire, and a cosmos of other colors come to intercept. In the center, a vortex of nether jabbed a pinhole in the falling rock, sucking the inside out like it was just a hollow balloon.

They were saved- but how? So many things today had defied logic that he did not stop to contemplate one more.

Not entirely delivered from the wrath of the heavens, the dwarf-moon exploded under the combine assault of a thousand Jutsu, unleashing a rain of fire and brimstone upon the buildings. It didn't matter- they would survive, and Naruto would use this distraction to turn the tide in his own battle.

Yes, the giant, half-metal man was fast. But Naruto had spent his whole life comparing to an impossible goal, and anything underneath that paled in comparison. Radiant Thorn sunk once- twice- three times into the vulnerable flesh of the man, and twice more into the exposed circuitry of the machine. Knowing such technology from Remnant, the appearance didn't faze him. Not even when the man mutated his other arm, and then his leg, and a tail of concertina wire sprouted from his hind quarters.

Breaking away with backflip and sticking the landing with scythe held out to the side, he smirked as the arm-mounted energy-weapon pointed at him started to glow. Whoever this person was must have thought him a total bumpkin, little to know he was probably the one most qualified in the entire village to deal with this kind of threat.

Turning his back as the explosive note detonated on the man's arm, Naruto caught the sudden updraft and let it lift him further into the fray.

"Cannonball!"

The cry penetrated through the fog of battle, though it wasn't until a giant toad spawned in the middle of the air did anyone take notice of the blond scythe-wielder entering the fray, hitching a ride on its back.

The scarlet and salmon-colored amphibian headed straight for a massive bird with a turritella -shaped beak that was picking at several Leaf-shinobi throwing ineffectual weapons and techniques at it. The avian barely had time to squawk and flap its wings once irately before the sasumata-wielding summon crushed it under it girth.

"Kakashi-sempai!" Recognizing a shock of gray hair amidst the ants grappling on the ground below, he leapt off the toad's back and mid-way through his fall, apparated next to the Jōnin.

"Naruto?!" The older man sounded and looked alarmed, a far cry from his almost criminally aloof demeanor. Both eyes exposed, looking at Naruto with sweat beading down the ridge of his nose and into the iconic mask. "What in Kami's name are you doing here? Akatsuki is after you. You need to get as far away as possible, now!"

"And let them go through the rest of the village to get to me? Fat chance." He narrowed his eyes at the calm individual opposite them, eerily familiar orange hair shading eyes that would have looked bored except for the pulsating rings faceted in kunzite.

It was obvious that Kakashi was more than reluctant to accept this logic, glaring down at the bullish teen. Though he was forced to change his mind as the two of them were suddenly drawn in the other direction by an unrelenting pull towards the orange-haired man.

Less winded than his superior, Naruto was quicker on the uptake to grab the man's hand and flicker out of the invisible riptide before the two of them could become impaled on the carbon-black spikes which were jutting out of the orange-haired Akatsuki's robes.

Being deposited from the body-flicker clumsily, he was quicker to right himself this time, rolling to a knee in front of the Jōnin who had given up arguing and silently gave him orders through taps on his back.

With a nod that could have been construed as a mark of determination, Naruto shot off at the robed-man, two clones spawning seamlessly on either side. All three were skewered instantaneously by that coal-black alloy which projected from the man's wrists. The puffs of smoke dispersing in their wake obscured the twirling scythe as it launched out from the haze.

Plucking one of the elongate rods, the man raised the Bo staff-length to deflect the thrown blade up into the air. Where it then transformed back into Naruto wielding the same serrated scythe, bearing down upon him. Naruto's teeth were the only thing effected by his earth-shattering blow as it was blocked casually by the man. They smashed one set against the other as he strained countering the impossibly strong defense. Glaring back at the impassive purple eyes staring down at him, and those painful-yet stylish looking piercings which struck him as odd for a uniform.

"What you are doing is pointless." The voice was now beginning to annoy him on a visceral level, his body rebelling against the language of destiny. "You won't win against us. This is the way the world works, everyone feels pain, everyone suffers and dies. It is God's duty to bring that about."

"You're wrong." The strain on his face morphed into a grin.

"Oh?" He asked, without inflection.

"Yeah, it isn't pointless." A strength dredged up from places unknown caused a barely-detectible widening of the man's eyes. "It might be futile, but it isn't pointless. Even if I fail, there's a reason for doing this!"

Punctuating his statement, a pair of hands burst forth from beneath the orange-haired man, dragging him down with them into the depths of the ground he had previously used so wantonly.

"Harvest time!" Naruto declared as he prepared to separate the chaff from the wheat.

Killing went against Naruto's principles. Ruby and her world had bent him unwittingly in this direction, and conversely, perhaps his had done the opposite for her. Things in life were never black and white, moderation in all things, even in death.

Just this once, he would indulge himself.

"I see…" Continuing unphased, despite only his monotonous head sticking above the ground, the man pontificated. "…It is futile, then."

The man who fancied himself a god rejected the death which awaited him, throwing off its yoke as easily as he did the tons of dirt around his shoulders with an almighty push. Shards and loose humus alike flew in every direction, crashing into the approaching Naruto and blinding him with it fine particles.

"The wording will not change the outcome."

A rod shot out from within the red and black sleeve, pinning Naruto by his hood as he made to dodge based on the cutting whistle alone.

One

"You will be coming with us. You will become part of a new world, one without conflict."

Naruto stopped struggling against the garment, watched the man slowly approach with a cocked head.

Two

"Using the power of the Bijῡ I will end wars. You, Naruto-san, were created as a weapon, and I will turn you into an instrument of peace. Accept what you are, accept the pain of suffering, and accept that it is human destiny to fail time and again. I have become that Pain in order to break the cycle."

Three

"…And they call me crazy." Naruto scoffed, to no visual effect on the man who liked repeating the word 'pain'. "You don't really believe in that crock, do you?"

Wordlessly that lifeless mouth continued his trek.

Four

"You are more fool than I thought, Uzumaki Naruto." The young man frowned at what sounded like the first hint of actual disappointment from the homicidal man. But he wouldn't have to subject himself to it much longer.

The time Kakashi had indicated through those taps was almost up.

Fi-

There was a sound like the universe itself was being ripped apart, a crackling, tearing, chirping noise which accompanied a plasma glow, coming in too hot to possibly dodge. The man, Pain, didn't even register this immanent danger, even when it thrust at him and plunged straight through-

The massive half-metal Akatsuki who had interposed himself at the last possible moment, taking the lightning-coated fist to his chest in place of the other.

"And so…" Pain held up his palm to the back of his own comrade and shot another one of his adamantine rods straight through his body. The man being impaled didn't so much as flinch, but the same could not be said for Kakashi on the other side who collapsed while holding his bleeding shoulder. "the cycle of pain continues."

"-And you're beginning to be a pain in my ass!"

With the rod connecting through his undead teammate, Pain didn't have time to maneuver out of the way as another blue light engulphed his dead, violet eyes. A hard light this time, swirling, grinding away into his stomach and scrambling his internal organs. Naruto plunged his Rasengan as best as he could through the to have killed the other orange-haired Akatsuki moments before, this time he intended to destroy.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result."

Five seconds were up, and a constant force like continually falling from a ten-story building onto solid concrete slammed into him. Slapping him across the remains of what was once a popular shopping district. Entirely numb by the time it ceased, he soared ballistically through a brick wall- another one, almost a third if something else hadn't caught him.

Another brick wall would have been preferable.

Picking himself up, he was greeted with a hideously gaping mouth the size of one of the many storefronts which once decorated this part of the village. An awning of shock-white hair sat upon sickly purple skin in this ghastly image.

Thankfully he didn't have to look at it for long, but that was because worming hands stretched out from its non-existent body and shoved themselves down his throat, retreating with their prize of his tongue. Was it his tongue, though? It stretched from his base out of his mouth like a ripcord for his soul. He was helpless as well. With eyes screwed up in his head, he could only feel as if he were being turned inside and exposed to the world. Though he could also hear the infuriating sound of that man's voice.

"This is the Meifu no Ō technique, and if you lie at any point, it will judge you unfit and reap your life-force." As incredible as this might have seemed to anyone else, Naruto had no reason to disbelieve the man from what he had seen. "So tell me, Naruto-san, are you insane?"

He could feel the precarious state of his existence being weighed on an invisible balance, that hand begging a chance to sever his spirit.

"No."

"Interesting." That all-encompassing voice felt to be pacing slowly around him, honestly curious with his interrogation. "Then the reason you are fighting is because you believe you offer something different. Admittedly, you have been an anomaly ever since I learned of your existence. The conflicting reports I have been getting have been baffling. I was wondering if perhaps we were being misled, a stand-in serving to obscure your true nature. Maybe one of Jiraiya-sensei's obfuscations."

Naruto would have struggled against his capture- he was, but it felt like he wasn't doing anything.

"Ineffectually weak that you would freeze under the mere gaze of a real battle, yet strong enough to fight off not one, but two of our members. Unabashed and frank with your words, yet with a keen sense of danger that borders on the legendary Hyῡga omniscience. Idealistic with your pursuits yet callous with your means. That scythe you carry around is a symbol of death in many cultures, yet you would spare an enemy if given the chance. Tell me, do you think you are a good person?"

Still under the binds of the King of Hell, Naruto answered as best as he could. Throat dry which had nothing to do with his lockjaw.

"Yes."

"I see…" Though it was only a partial lie, the technique did not seem to register it as such. "Perhaps I should word that better: what do you fight for that makes you believe you are right? Akatsuki is for the pursuit of peace, and you would fight against that. So what do you stand for?"

That was easy, he and Ruby stood for the same thing.

Didn't they?

In the annals of memory that he could upon call with but a whim, there was nothing. How could such a core and defining thing have gone unasked? Simple: because they had neither thought they needed to. Ruby and he fought for themselves, the two of them existing in a radio galaxy orbiting around one another- still parsecs away from anyone else.

Did he consider himself better than everyone because of this? Did this narrow-minded selflessness make him blind to the others in his life?

The answer was an emphatic yes, a heartbroken yes when Tenten had confronted him about it. He'd been trying to fix this issue, because he didn't just want to live for himself. The more people he brought under his umbrella of protection, the more he lived life and the more lives he lived, through Ruby's eyes as well as his own.

"I want to make a beautiful world."

One which had everything- the good and the bad. He wanted to feel it all.

"How droll. I was expecting more. It turns out you're not as interesting as was made out to be."

"That's just what the boring people say." Though he still couldn't move his arms, he could grin.

"Unfortunately, I must live in the real world. One which requires sacrifice in order to achieve anything."

"I never said there wouldn't be hardships, it wouldn't be interesting otherwise."

"You believe that pain is interesting? That it is something to be lauded?" Contrivedly, as he weaned a sliver of anger out of the orange-haired man, his smile but grew.

"It's going to happen, but so is the happiness. Can't we take joy in that?"

Despite his aloof bearing, Pain derived a kind of enjoyment from seeing Naruto writhe in agony, that ghoulish construct straining at his soul.

"Did I forget to mention that I am the one asking questions here? Though if what you are saying is to be believed, then you would come to enjoy that experience. Do you think your friends would as well?"

A magnetic reversal in Naruto snapped the grin down into a vicious snarl.

"You fancy yourself a God looking down on us like blades of grass. Well, for every person that you've buried in the ground in the name of your 'peace' another dozen will grow again to defy you."

"Yes, you are like weeds, which is why you need to be culled. But I warn you, you did not answer my question."

"Then how's this: you're never going to find out, because I'm not going to let you hurt them."

"And how do you plan to do that? What is your ingenuous new strategy to bring about a 'Beautiful World'?"

"Simple: with blood, sweat, tears, and my own hands!"

Hands from all around arrived to sever the hold the death-god had on him, to deliver him from evil. Not the hands of gods, these were but the tools of rebellious mortals. Brandishing steel, chakra, and callouses as thick as gloves, they wrenched their comrade free and drove the ringleader back. They bore his weary body, supported him despite it all.

"For all your talk, you seem very willing to let others suffer in your place."

There was no desire to see the bitterness in that purple gaze. So instead Naruto looked up to those gathered around. The faces of his comrades, and their hands gently lifting him to his feet. Determined looks etched at every glance, as resolute and sure as the grip they had on him, unable to let go.

"You dropped this." With a patient smile, Tenten handed over his blade which he took into his possession, fingers tightening against what was an extension of himself- an extension of Ruby all the way into this other world.

"Thanks." He said simply, turning back to face Pain who was being backed by his own entourage, a gaggle of faces and bodies all with that shock-orange hair and disfiguring piercings. And those same, ringed, hollow stares.

How feeble they looked compared to their determination.

"That's because we fight together." He retorted across the engulphed landscape, unflinchingly meeting that disturbingly blank stare. "Their hands are my own, we are all part of one another. We may not always see eye to eye-" He looked over his shoulder to see just how many he had unknowingly gathered behind him. There was Tenten, Neji, Rock Lee, Sasuke, a battle-weary Kakashi and Yamato, Sakura, and many more which he couldn't see past their impenetrable wall but which he could feel supporting him.

"-but we will always fight as one to protect what we hold dear!"

"Very well," Pain spoke, unphased by the stalwart bastion erected in front of him. "then they shall all bear your punishment while you watch them die."

And like that, the battle for Konoha was renewed. It was unbridled chaos for an unfathomably long time, the six 'Paths' of Pain giving them the workaround until they managed to coax out their secrets one by one.

But not without sacrifice.

The one they called 'Naraka', the same which had summoned the King of Hell, could call upon the same power to restore any one of the enemy combatants, revealing how the one Naruto had blasted had come back to life. If this were not enough to stack the odds against them, the six Pains had a connection not unlike he and Ruby, only they could share the thoughts on what they saw through the other's eyes. It was like dealing with a hive mind, such as his clones, but each one on a level removed from anything they'd ever dealt with.

Of all the times for Akatsuki to strike, it had to be when both Jiraiya and Tsunade were out of the village. Though with how badly they were being beaten, would it have even made a difference?

Soon there was just a score of the defenders left. Then a handful. Then a couple. Finally, Naruto miraculously found himself all alone except for Sasuke by his side, both panting like dogs. The others were strewn about the battlefield in various states which he couldn't bring himself to ascertain. It was numbing, but like a stich in the side he couldn't stop to think about it. Could only keep pressing on.

"This is… a fine mess… you've gotten us into, Dobe." The raven-haired boy snarked, any animosity broken up by his fluctuating breath.

"If you're getting tired… you can always quit."

Secretly he wanted him to take this offer. Save himself, maybe grab a few others and go as far away as possible from that place so that he wouldn't see his inevitable defeat.

"I wasn't… complaining." Sasuke huffed. "Don't tell me you're getting soft. Come on, we still have to show these bastards where true strength comes from. You're not letting me down, are you?"

Trying to rise to the challenge, Naruto pushed himself up using Radiant Thorn as a crutch, but soon collapsed back down to a single knee on the now universally trashed ground. How much of Konoha was even left by this point? Was it even worth fighting for?

"Wake up, Baka!" The shout like an electric shock jolted his muscles, bringing him upright. "You're not allowed to sleep now, you can't leave the story hanging like this. What do you suppose Ruby would think?"

Ruby. A lifetime of fighting had somehow almost made him forget that she was always watching. There was no way he could give up like this. He'd worked his whole life to be as strong and as fast as she- all to give her a happy ending. He could not fail as long as he had an audience.

He remembered there was someone else always watching.

This was his story, wasn't it? He should be able to dictate how it ended.

"Alright then… here's the plan…"

As a self-proclaimed god, the six Pain operating as one were torn between the very human disappointment and divine boredom watching as yet another unsuccessful tactic was hashed out. The surreptitious looks that they sent at Naraka Path were less worrying and more irritating as they indicated a speck of hope remained.

"Allow me to correct any notions you have of victory."

It was the central Path, or Deva Path, who spoke, but Naraka who moved, summoning yet again that immortal visage without any visible effort. The plans they had made were prepared for this. What they were not prepared for was the people who stepped out of the gaping maw, striding on the lolling tongue like a red carpet.

"Itachi-!"

The near-twin of Sasuke regarded his younger sibling impassively as if neither of the two were really present, but there was also no doubt that this was no illusion as the shark-toothed grin of the man's partner assured them.

"Somehow you have managed to resist where others have fallen. This is unacceptable, as I need you to feel the hopelessness of utter defeat. You will succumb to the overwhelming odds against you, and realize that your efforts were fated to fail from the very start."

"You just said the wrong fucking thing! Sasuke-!" It was his turn to rattle the bones of his comrade in arms, the one who should have been like a brother to him years before this, but were separated by their own forms of detachment. "You're stronger than some bullshit Fate! Don't you dare let him dictate what you have to do!" Without a doubt, he needed Sasuke to help him beat the Naraka path. Without the Uchiha, they stood no chance of subduing it. And without defeating it, they stood no chance at victory.

Too long had Sasuke followed Naruto's doctrine without seeing result, and true to his words, he was going to seize his own fate.

"ITACHI!"

Naruto watched his comrade bound off with the same kind of detachment as if Sasuke were just one of the other bodies resting discontentedly throughout the rubble. There would be no question that he would fight, but without his heart in it. That would be the definition of pointless.

Leaning on Samahed, the blue-skinned swordsman was more than willing to let the two brothers sort things out on their own while he watched the world burn from the sidelines. It hardly mattered now, anyway.

"I hope after all this you begin to see my point, Naruto." Walking almost casually across the war-torn landscape, hardly shifting his robes which didn't possess even a nick or scratch. "Not only was your effort doomed to fail, but it was unsound to begin with. Humans will always choose hatred over love, pain over contentment. The latter is an illusion all too easily dispelled. Which is why I need the power of the Bijῡ, to make that fantasy everlasting, and thus bring about peace at last."

What was real? Had any of his efforts every been true? Going through the motions of training, trying to become stronger did not amount to anything in the end. For all their rebelling against the hardships which life dealt them, was it not Fate itself that brought him and Ruby together? What of free will?

Maybe life itself was the greatest illusion. Millions of stories already penned down in some forgotten manuscript. Reams of them concluded and locked away to never be seen again. Life, a tale without a reader. Pointless.

If that was the case, it wouldn't matter which one of them walked away from this confrontation. Even… even Ruby would someday forget his story if he were not there to remind her. The history of his world ended with him. Though if hatred were all that was written about, would it even be worth remembering?

"No."

The simple word stopped Pain in his tracks, hiding those perversely divine eyes behind a blink.

"I'm not going to let this story be one of Pain and suffering. It's not going to be one without hope. And even if I don't succeed today, rest assured that others will know about it and take up the fight. Because life always finds a way." He grinned and planted the heel of his scythe in the ground. "Because we are like weeds, and eventually we will overcome the devastation people like you cause."

Both he and Pain blinked at the same time. Though when he opened his eyes, it was met point-blank by the all-encompassing purple irises, each ring like an asteroid belt surrounding the center of a galaxy. Dead space, a vacuum. Up close, it was almost beautiful, in a way.

At least until the blow smashed him in the hollow spot under his chest, forcing the blade out of his hand and causing him to crumple in a dark heap, alone.

"Absurdity."

For an ending line, it wasn't bad. Almost poetic in its brevity.

This is not just some dime-novel though. Not just his story, and thus not where it leaves off.


"HHUUUHHHUUUHH!"

For the second time, Ruby found herself falling off her bunk-bed, crashing to the floor in a breathless heap. Her arms quaked as she tried to push herself to her feet, gasps forced out of her each time she slipped back down.

"Eh- what's going- Ruby!"

Serendipity would have Weiss be the first to wake, even though the girl had likely become all but immune to the noisy girl bunked above her. The startle of seeing her leader flopping around on their floor like a fish, eyes wide and glistening, was enough for her to throw off all decorum as well as her heavy comforter and leap to the ground in her aid.

"Guhh… could you guys keep it-"

The young woman who would barely be able to drag herself out of bed at noon on weekends was awake almost instantaneously, crouching on the balls of her feet next to her hyperventilating sister. Frantically trying to scoot the girl into her lap, Yang pushing past the clawing hands desperately trying to come up for air.

"What's going on?"

Alert as if she'd always been awake, Blake was halfway out of her bed and joining the group on the floor before they realized it, amber eyes flitting back and forth between their hyperconscious leader and the baffled faces surrounding her.

"I don't know! Ruby just fell out of bed and I noticed that she was acting really weird. Is she having a seizure or something?"

"Has she ever had something like this before?" Managing to keep her wits about her despite the situation, Blake asked the prudent question.

"I-I don't-" The illusion of knowing her sister shattered and made her stumble on things she had held on to for so long.

"Na-Na-Naru-"

"Ruby!" They all turned their attention back to the girl who was now coming around, each blink bringing back some clarity in her eyes.

"Something happened with Naruto?"

Weiss shot a look at Blake for asking what she deemed to be an inappropriate question given the very real crisis they were having.

"Someone should go get the nurse." Standing up, Weiss was startled for the second time as a clammy hand grasped her wrist in an iron grip.

"No! Don't- don't go!" Breathing more consistently, though no less raggedly and fast, Ruby managed to get out a few more words. "I need you! I need you to knock me out!"

There was an incredulous pause in which eyes sought out some fragment of direction in the darkened room.

"-That's it, I'm getting the nurse."

"Youdon't- you don't think you can do it, do you?!"

"That's enough Ruby, just calm down and-" Unwisely, her sister tried to get in between the two.

"Ha!"

With the only light being from the moon streaming in through the window, it took them a while to realize what had happened. Not until the prize was held up to the silver light, golden hair throwing a sparkling contrast to the four sets of glowing eyes.

"Oh-"

"-Shit"

"Ruby…"

In her panicked state Ruby could only smile depravedly, glassy eyes clamping shut along with her mouth to anticipate the blow that was about- that needed to come.

Nothing happened.

"Yang?" She eked out, slowly cracking an eye to see if she were even still in the room.

The elder girl was, though had her back turned and was trembling with barely-controlled rage.

"…No. I'm not going to hit you, Ruby. I owe you at least that much for my failures."

Distraught rather than pleased with the conclusion, Ruby turned with her desperation first to Blake who already had her hands thrown into the air to shrug off the duty. Weiss was still looking aghast at her, and so she shot to her feet and got her nose up into the other girl's face.

"-Come on Weiss! Hit me! Haven't you wanted to this whole time!"

"W-well yes- I mean, no! This is utter nonsense! Just calm down and try to explain what's going on, maybe we can help you." Though there was very little doubt of that happening.

"There's no time!" Shaking the other girl both figuratively and literally as Ruby's twiggy arms locked onto Weiss like a vice. "I bet you can't! You're just a weak, feckless, bratty, disingenuous-" Ruby was throwing the book at her to elicit a reaction, words she neither understood nor knew how to pronounce all fair play. "-crummy, rude, pompous, flat-chested-"

"FLAT CHESTED?!"

Just as Ruby's list of invectives was thrown out without thought, so too was Weiss's openhand palm which connected to Ruby's chin. A sharp crack echoed throughout the small room and seemed to hang there along with the girl's body in rigor-mortis for a full three breaths.

Then the girl flopped over like a board on the lightly-carpeted floor, out cold once again.


Impossibly, he had been waiting for the moment when his eyes would snap open. There was never any doubt.

No delay as the mantra of seals and Chakra states memorized over the past weeks coursed through his body like a switch had just been flipped.

"Hm?"

Pain had turned his head when he felt the jerky movement from the body being dragged by the Animal Path. Even before that extent of himself realized something was amiss, Naruto was already gone, leaving a blinding afterglow in his place. Where did he-

Making no attempt to hide, the young man crouched over one of the many unmoving bodies lying haphazardly among the remains of what was once the Village Hidden in the Leaves, slowly drawing the limp form into his arms and burying his shadowed face into its frazzled hair which had become untied from its tight knots.

"Why did you not run?" The leader of Akatsuki asked from across the great divide, heedless of the emotions pulsating like deadly radiation from the recalcitrant Jinchῡriki. "If you do not even try to escape, then what did she die for?"

Without a word he tucked the tri-pronged kunai he had impressed upon Tenten so long ago back into his pouch, it no longer being useful. Like her body, which he lay back on the stone-cold Earth. Then he raised himself, because he could.

"Is this the first person you've ever lost?"

"…No." It was the first he could hold with his own two hands, the first he could not escape guilt for. "And I know it won't be the last."

Everything and everyone had their time in the sun. He had Ruby would have equal days and nights of their own, until one outlived the other. Unless by some miracle they died on the selfsame day.

Even if they didn't, it went without saying that one would live for the other. Who else would carry their story onward?

"You accept the Pain, then?"

"I already said I did, or are you getting forgetful?" There was no playfulness as he thumbed the haft of Radiant Thorn. "Just because I accept that life comes with pain doesn't mean I have to lay back and let it fuck me."

He settled into wide-hipped stance, hand halfway up the handle of his scythe cocked behind his back and the other brandishing a tri-pronged kunai guarding his leg. Cold chips of sapphire scanning the Six enemies, Kisame still unmoved and watching with an increased grin at the surprise comeback.

"We don't get to pick where we're born, who we're born as nor the people that call themselves friends and family. We pick and choose our struggles, and even if that's the only real choice in life, I'd say that's enough."

"Why choose to fight against the inevitable?"

"Because…"

The kunai flew from his grip, flying straight at an impassive Deva Path who made no move to dodge it, still waiting for the answer to his question.

That triple-bladed weapon suddenly multiplied into a tornado of steel raining aimlessly across the battlefield. There was no reason to pull punches any more.

Odd summons spawned to block the attack, including the King of Hell which swallowed up none too few of the kunai. An armadillo crossed with a bull grunting as the rest were deflected off its armored hide.

"It seems I am the one who is failing to adapt, forgetting your obstinance." Deva Pain droned. "Next time I will cut off your arms and legs and we shall see how well you recover from that." Without having to make an audible command, the Paths most suited to fighting all leapt over the newly erected barriers, bar Deva who didn't bother to lift a finger. All the iconic Hiraishin-tagged kunai were on the other side, and there was no reason for him to exert himself further.

Seemingly contradicted in this thought by a flash of strawberry-colored light, he whipped around to see- absolutely nothing. A ploy? But how did he even get a technique behind the barrier anyway-?

"Ya know, that's not a very nice thing to say." Against all odds, the chipper voice came from behind him yet again. And though he was within striking range of the curious blond shinobi, he was incapable of doing anything but watch as the scythe-wielder menaced his blade over the neck of an already legless Naraka path. "-Let's see how you like it, when you're in the same boat!"

It looked like a single flash of movement, but the seconds which came after saw the body of Naraka path be separated into four more pieces.

"…Why do you continue to fight against God? What use is there?" Unperturbed by the sight of his comrade being julienned, Deva path was instead fixated on that still unanswered question. It seemed that being a god without being omniscient was most irksome. So to this thought, Naruto smiled even more viciously.

"Because."

"Why?" Almost as fast as the boy had been able to move, Deva had whipped his arms up and shot charcoal lances on other side of that unfaltering Cheshire smile, impaling either shoulder and pinning him against a wall. "You will tell me. If your insanity has affected others you have had contact with, I will not be able to save them without knowing what ails you."

Pain slowly approached, caution and not casualness this time. He was not scared- no. He was a god, and this was not even a real body. But if he should be up against a genuine immortal…

"There is no use in hiding behind those flesh and blood clones, I can see your Chakra."

"Good to know."

Once again forcing the man to turn, he was treated to the sight of another Naruto, this one exuding the controlled burn which was Yokai. His entire body engulfed in flames which already bore two tails, yet not being consumed by it. The same could not be said for the severed head he clutched by the roots of its once long orange hair, now returning to brown with its defeat and rotting more than burning from the base up in that conflagration.

"Why?"

"Don't you mean: 'How'?" He asked with a grin, knowing that Pain's vision had been cut off from his paths for a span of all of two seconds.

The expressionless man seethed, cloak hiding whatever trace emotions were there to be observed.

Where once words had failed, all one had to do was interpret the shit-eating grin on the Jinchῡriki's face and the now third flickering tail erupting behind him to obtain an answer.

He was never fighting alone.

"Why?!"

"Because!"

The body accelerated faster than the red chakra could keep up and Deva Pain was actually forced to dodge as a guillotine strike came from behind. With the next he raised two of his unbreakable rods used as escrima to block with a defense like iron.

"I will make you tell me!"

Because every other story had been told. The only interesting ones left were those of impossibility, giving hope to the others who thought they knew how it all should end.

Life brought he and Ruby together, and it would be death which would tear them apart. Being separated from Ruby during that period of medically-induced unconsciousness made one think: how? To prevent it from happening again, and to be able to use that knowledge somewhere down the road. Like if you encountered another person with this visual telekinetic ability, and you wanted to interrupt it.

In this way, it was Naruto himself who was the impossibility, converting tragedy into celebration, defeat into success.

This is one of the many reason this is their story, and not mine.

"What is there left to fight for? Everyone you knew is dead."

The scorpion tail of Asura Path gouged a long trench out of the once hard-packed streets, forcing Naruto into the air where he was assaulted by another drill-beaked bird. Remembering what Ruby had done to the Nevermore not too long ago, he took a page from her book and decapitated it upon a listing tower. Diving in through a window, he took shelter as the Asura path blasted a chunk from the rooftop.

"You're wrong!" Naruto screamed from the bombed-out building, knowing that the Deva path was waiting on baited breath. "You can try and take away everything important, you can try to break me as much as possible, but you can never take away what I stand for- woah!"

Then again, maybe giving away his position wasn't such a good idea as a hornet's nest of missiles targeted his voice and forced him to rapidly flicker between floors, the building pancaking level by level behind him.

Deva Pain would watch with only mild interest, because he knew that Naruto would somehow find his way out. If he didn't, the answer he would have gotten wouldn't be worth it.

"Then I will keep you around long enough to strip everything that you ever were away from you. I will take away your sight, your taste, your hearing, any and all senses you might posses until there is nothing left of you." The Deva did not have to look to blast away the groping hands of rusty chakra which lunged out of the rubble with a Banshō Ten'in. The tendrils bowing around the almighty push as if they were little more than smoke. "And when I am done with that, I will take away your Bijῡ, leaving you entirely alone in the moments before you die."

"You're one sick motherfucker, aren't you?" This pronouncement was sported with a grin, glad to be vindicated when he tore the man apart.

"I do this only because you refuse to see the truth. It would be that much easier if you were to simply give up."

"You wouldn't know the truth if it came up and bit you on the ass."

At that, Deva Pain turned around to see another Naruto charging at him with a bleeding Rasengan. He didn't move a muscle as a blast of yellow energy flew over his shoulder and dispelled the clone in a cloud of smoke- one which was far larger than the norm and absorbed Deva Path.

"You really are starting to bore me. Surely you know that this has no chance of working."

"Maybe I really am just nuts." The voice came from another hundred clones which could be seen by the other Paths outside the smoke. "Though that would mean your technique isn't quite as strong as you thought it was, huh? Guess you're not as divine as you pretend to be."

The clones mocking him were promptly dispelled through various rods flying like arrows and pinpoint fire from Asura Path. Though this left the field no less clear, and Naruto had already scored the most devastating blow of the match without even making contact.

This was just the opening move as more of those digit-faced snakes broke through the ground, dragging Animal path down with them.

"This has gone on long enough." At the sacrifice of yet another path, he now had at least a general idea of where Naruto was. There were still Deva, Asura and Preta. He alone was more than sufficient to take out that stubborn worm.

Though the Chibaku Tensei had never fully impacted, a new crater almost as large in diameter as that earthen ball was stamped upon the ground beneath his feet as he lifted himself into the air. The cloud of obscuring smoke was brushed aside like dust on a dirty counter, leaving even more perfect desolation on that quasi-moonscape.

"I must commend you for being able to take out half my bodies, However…" A smaller crater dimpled into the first as an equal but opposite force rocketed out of it, heading straight for the floating Deva. He brushed aside the boy's clawed hands, again, and again, maneuvering around in that limitless battleground while continuing to look as unflappable as ever. "Yet you have not even gained a scratch on me."

Naruto was bearing his teeth as he slashed, hopped and skipped to and froe off his clones spawning in the nick of time to keep him aloft. Apart from that animalistic demeanor, he was clearly in control of his actions. Pain had never been informed that Naruto was a perfect Jinchῡriki.

It was a distinct disadvantage not being able to fly, though. One which was exploited when another salvo of micro-missiles flew at him in a coordinated shell of explosions, dispelling his next platform and letting him drop. He did not fall far, only because Pain caught him by the throat and hurled him at the ground with even more velocity than before.

"And this is where your story ends."

Picking himself off the ground, the cloaked Naruto only got about halfway before his knees buckled, body spasming as the energy felt like it was being drained out of him. It was, and as he flopped over on the ground, he saw two hands craned over him which were drawing the angry Yokai into steaming palms.

"Do not worry, you will not die just yet. There will be plenty of time while we gather the rest of the Bijῡ. You will be the last of your brethren to be inducted, and during that period alive, you will experience the pain that I promised."

"Be care…ful. You don't… take too much. It'd be… pretty funny if you killed me when you already won."

"Don't worry. I already know this is one of your flesh-clones. I am simply informing the real you which is lurking around, waiting for its chance to strike."

"Oh? You so sure about that?"

"The real you would have that obnoxious weapon you stole from Hidan." Pain declared with finality. "Besides, I saw when you swapped bodies in the crater. Do you truly think you can hide anything from me?"

"I did… I did once already…" Under the ministrations of Preta path, Naruto was fading in and out of consciousness. If he were to be believed, this was the real one, and any more than a few seconds after his eyes closed would be enough to suck out Chakra faster than the could be replenished, even through the hardened Chakra pathway of a Jinchῡriki. "You're pretty gullible… for a… god."

"Foolish lies." There had never been a second time. There was no way he would be unaware of another breach of his mental link, even if it were just for the time it took to perform a replacement technique.

Right?

"This is what you are reduced to? As an Uzumaki, you should have more pride."

"An… Uzu…maki?"

In a split-second where thoughts diverged, Preta Path looked to Deva Path, wondering if he should continue. The softness which might have then existed became a forgotten memory.

"How truly sad. It seems you have lost more than you know, Naruto."

"Then… I hope… I hope… you lose it all, with me."

Pain's hand twitched, almost cutting off the draining Chakra. How much did the Nine-Tails contain, anyway? Legends and hearsay could only provide so much information.

"You are just a clone, a slightly smarter and sturdier doll. No one will mourn your loss." Still scanning, hoping that he was not mistaken.

"If… you… say… so.." It was so hard to keep his eyes open. "I… could… only… try, right?" The smile blossomed just before the explosion, separating Deva from Preta and blinding them both.

Taking a chance, Deva Path used his powers to shove Preta path out of the way. With the Chakra absorbing abilities, Preta Path was one piece he did not want to lose.

"Heh, made you look."

That bark of laughter was the second thing he did not want to hear, the first being the sound of flesh sliding over a wetted blade. The smoke had already cleared from his Banshō Ten'in, and he watched as Preta Path slid down to the base of Naruto's outstretched blade.

"You should have trusted your instincts."

"I am above such things. Let me show you."

Chains shining as bright as the sun which had sunken low in the sky erupted from the remaining Pain's back, startling Naruto with their newfound appearance but not stopping him from using the Hiraishin to flash to one of his kunai scattered at the edge of the crater.

"No mater how fast you are, I will find you, I will catch you." Pain swore, unleashing a fire-jutsu without the use of handseals while Naruto flashed to another one of his kunai, chakra cloak slowly rebuilding after he deactivated it to hide from the Deva Path.

Despite not understanding his logic, Pain seemed to know everything else about him, including where he would next appear. He met him there with two more solid black chakra receivers impaling themselves above his head as he crouched.

"All your tags are scattered around in a circle which is child's play to predict. There is no escape."

"We'll see!"

From one to the next, keeping just barely ahead of Pain's combined jutsu and thrown attacks, until he started throwing the kunai in between jumps, pausing for just a second to give himself two possible paths to jump to. Pain was forced to guess which one he would use to teleport, and predict this from his all-observing position in the air.

The first were a fifty-fifty shot for Pain, a narrow miss for Naruto as he had to physically dodge and get himself singed as he lingered too long in one place. From there, the odds took off as soon hundreds of Hiraishin Kunai dotted the sky, being plucked seemingly at random by a pinkish lightning-bolt.

A carnival game with one ball and infinite cups, it wasn't a magic trick but a complex series of exponentials that one could derive by paying attention from the beginning with a keen eye.

Pain had the keenest eye of all.

"Got ya!"

Though it didn't appear that he was able to keep up with the consecutive jumps made in the blink of an eye as Naruto suddenly appeared behind him, scythe itching to reap his soul in recompense for all the ones he'd already taken. It was over unsatisfyingly quick, but it was better to be safe than-

The cloak-waring man disappeared in puff of smoke.

"Wha-"

Any elation he'd felt at the point he crossed the sound barrier was brutally shot down along with his body as his wings were clipped. He'd come too close, flown too near to the sun and now God was punishing his transgressions, sending him crashing against the ground and pinning him there for all eternity with four rods impaled through his wrists and ankles.

There was no chance to cry out as he was still trying to wrap his head around the sudden reversal and his fall from grace. Trying to breath through the blood welling up in his mouth from the tip of his tongue he'd bitten off. All he could think of was how Ruby would probably laugh at how pathetic he looked.

He hoped she would, as long as it would keep her from crying.

"I truly hope that you at last see the futility." Landing in front of Naruto's strained vision with hardly a spec of dust disturbed, Pain crouched over his victim so he could just barely see those condescending, ringed eyes staring down at him.

"The one who made it last this long is you. All this pain is derived from people like you who cannot understand the bigger picture, refuse to see the suffering that you cause with your actions."

"Would you shut up already?" Whatever dismalness his immanent defeat held, he smiled in the face of it, perhaps knowing that his teeth were dyed crimson. "Man, you talk more than Ero-Senin!"

"I take it you mean Jiraiya-sensei." If he was expecting the information that he, Pain, was also once a disciple of the Senin to be a shock, then he would be disappointed with the broadening of Naruto's smile. Possibly, he was amused with the stubborn resistance, a freshness which reminded him of the old days.

"Heh, nope. No way." Pinned to the ground though he was, Naruto still managed to shake his head. "If you're going to tell me that it was 'Fate' that had us meet because we're both Ero-sensei's students, I'ma call bullshit."

"You are strange one, Naruto."

"Thanks, but you're too boring for that compliment to mean much." Ignoring the biting pain, he tried to wiggle himself free only to give up with a cry combining agony and frustration as the rods sucked the will to fight out of him. "All you bad-guys are the same! When one of you fails, you just think it's 'cause you haven't done enough crazy shit yet! What makes you think you're any different than anyone else?! Why is your great plan going to succeed where others have failed? If you've got nothing new to add, just shut up!"

Angry tears were streaming down his face, impotently falling on the ground which would forever remain fallow. He buried his face in the dirt, smashing his forehead against loose rock and bits of debris, trying to keep himself away from the pain of knowledge for as long as he could. This was the end, he knew it, and he was still fighting against it. Even when Pain lived up to his promise- and he would- it would be a blessing if he didn't have to think of his failure.

Everything around him was gone. Almost everyone he knew in his world was dead. When he was younger, this had been the reality he was preparing himself for. Not literally, of course, but the same sort of loneliness which comes with such genocide. Hateful glares from the dead were no different than the living, it turned out. Maybe he would get lucky, and really would go insane before the true misery hit.

For all that it was worth, I promised to see things through until the end. Pain could take away all that, but there were still the memories, the days with Ruby that he couldn't touch. There was no point in pretending that he was going to get over this tragedy, no point in hoping for a better world beyond this one chance he'd been given.

What did he ever do to deserve being so lucky?

"…Just do it."

"Try to face your demise with dignity."

Dignity. Yeah, right. There was none of that in death.

The hand passed over his head swiftly with a harsh displacement of air, almost like a blade. He prepared to black out and then wake up as someone else, feeling just as miserable, twice as helpless.

"… Who are you?"

Blinking, and he was not in that dorm room in Beacon, waiting patiently for the dawn. The sun was still setting, casting a long, red shadow over him which looked suspiciously like…

"Ruby Rose." The butt of Radiant Thorn being planted in the ground for emphasis.

"Ru-bi…Rozu." Though it hurt, Naruto couldn't help the chuckle at Pain's confusion trying to parse out the name while looking detachedly at his hand which sported a new gash.

"What'cha doing down there, Naruto?" He craned his neck to see her sorry smile staring pitiably down at him.

"Enjoying the view, I suppose." He was looking at her face which lolled to the side at his incorrigibleness, not that she was any better.

"Not going to tell me to run off and save myself, I suppose?"

"It'd be a bit hypocritical, wouldn't it?"

"Mm-hm. Yup. It would."

Pain was agreeable to let them have their moment while he tried to parse out exactly who this girl was and how she exhibited such speed.

"Your turn to play the hero, then."

"Don't get too cozy." Flicking back to face Pain, the pale gaze which she'd arrived with bled with color, or not quite color, but luster. "I'm not sure how long I can keep him busy."

"It strikes me as odd that you would do so at all. Despite whatever speed ability that was, you seem… weak."

"You've caught me on a bad day." She admitted with a bit of irony before quenching that gaze with a hiss and striking a battle stance with that scythe hefted like a twig. "But as long as I can hold out until Ero-Senin and Tsunade-sama get back, it will be worth the sacrifice."

"I hope you still feel that way in the end."

Bravado as flat as ever, there might have been a hint of wavering behind that threat. It showed in the way he suddenly blitzed Bara-Ruby, taking both her and the pinned Naruto by surprise as she suddenly had to deflect two of the Chakra rods and then contend with a torrent of water threatening to sweep her off her feet.

A flicker of second thought was all she would allow herself when defending Naruto. When that was over she stepped back so that she was straddling the young man and twirled Radiant Thorn in front of her, drawing upon that foreign energy she'd only felt coursing through her other's body. Through some miracle, the cycling scythe was covered in a thin layer of Chakra, enough to offset the raging stream.

Before the current even shut off however, Bara-Ruby became aware of a sixth sense- like a person crying in the back of her head, telling her to turn around. Allowing the water to slap her back was alright, being now able to block the spear headed for her spine. Skipping back to distance herself, at the same time she dragged Radiant Thorn behind her and severing two of the four rods keeping Naruto in place.

Pain lunged to nullify her actions but was stymied yet again by the remarkable speed and prowess displayed by this frail looking girl. Her style was impossibly polished, and the way she gripped the oversized scythe was familiar, almost as if…

"You use the same style as Naruto."

"You might say I taught it to him." She was all too content to talk, rather than fight. Letting Naruto wriggle his way out of the stubby restraints and hopefully free himself.

"…Who are you, really, I wonder?"

Uncomfortable under that dissecting gaze, she managed not to tremble and hold her ground in front of Naruto for a few precious seconds longer.

"No matter," The voice came from behind, too fast, yet she still hiked up the butt of her weapon, hoping to destabilize Pain and maybe land a few hand-strikes if she could. "You will simply be one more life on his burdened conscience."

"Ruby!"

It was as always, too little, too late.