Chapter 29: Jiraiya's Last Stand: The Power of Uzumaki Naruto!

As Itachi, Sasuke and Tobi made their leave they leave behind Jiraiya to deal with Pein and Konan all on his own. As the wind blew past the three ninja they just stood there and stood at each other as the beginning to an epic battle was about to be unleashed. At first Jiraiya didn't seem to want to head straight into a fight if it wasn't necessary because he knew what he was up against.

"So you two are the remaining Akatsuki members?" Jiraiya looked Pein and Konan up and down as he sized them up with his eyes. Jiraiya then awaited a response from the Akatsuki members as there was a bit of a silent pause in between the question and soon to be answer.

"I'm sorry but there is two more that we just sent out to dispose of Itachi, Sasuke and Tobi to destroy their plans…hopefully they don't run into any of your allies." Pein then smirked as he was referring to Shingen and Kasumi as they were supposed to defeat Itachi to ruin his plan.

"I'm sorry but you're the one who's misinformed Pein, on the way here I managed to meet up with Konoha's team that was assigned to protect Itachi and the others…but I'm not sorry to say that the two members you speak of were defeated." Jiraiya then dropped a bombshell on Konan and Pein as the two were surprised to hear that they were both defeated so soon.

"They were very strong and loyal members, they were a great asset to Akatsuki…but now's not the time to mourn for our fallen comrades." Pein seemed a bit saddened but was more shocked then anything as they were two powerful ninja that are extremely hard to replace. Jiraiya then stood and looked at Pein puzzled as he didn't expect him to act in this manner and respect towards others.

This guy, he treats his team-mates as his comrades and values them greatly…he's a lot different than I thought. Jiraiya seemed a bit phased by Pein's behaviour but he quickly shook it off as he couldn't let anything get into his head.

"I also have one more question for you Pein…why did you start the Akatsuki?" Jiraiya had asked the question everyone had been wondering from the very start. Jiraiya awaited a response as he was hoping that Pein would give him a legitimate response.

"Since that will probably be your dying request I'll respect that and answer you Jiraiya the legendary sannin…Around the time when the Akatsuki had been formed I was around the age of. Thirty one, that was when I began to gather the required members for the organization. It was around eight years after the death of my distant brother…Namikaze Minato. When we were both young children only a couple of years of age our parents either died during the second great ninja war, but when we were left behind we were both found by separate families as our parents left us in their country house without anyone to care for us.

Flashback

In the distance an elderly couple had heard the cries of two little children in a nearby house as they were crying for a long time until the time they had arrived at the house. Once the couple had entered the home it had been trashed and there was nothing but broken glass on the floor and two cradles and one baby in each of the two cradles.

"Honey where do you think the parents are? They surely couldn't have abandoned them." The woman peered over the cage looking at the child on the right as she smiled at the little boy and he smiled back wiggling his tiny legs and stubby arms.

"We don't know anything for sure so we can't just take them without knowing if they're parents have died or have just been away for a while." The husband seemed that he wanted to look after the child but he was unsure about whether or not their parents would soon return.

"D-Dada." The child then smiled and laughed at the man and said what seemed to be his first words to him as he giggled and smiled.

"He thinks that you must be his father honey, it seems that his parents either haven't been around much for them from the looks of things." His wife then picked up the child and swayed him back and forth as he then began to calm down as his eyes slowly began to shut.

"We can't just leave him here, their parents might be gone or have maybe perished in the war." The wife seemed enthralled with the child as she had a soft smile on her face as she looked down at the child.

"We can't just take the child without notice, and besides we don't have nearly enough room nor money to support both of these children." The father still seemed sceptical about taking care of the child as he was worried that the parents still cared for them. The child was now sound asleep as the wife still had the infant in her arms cradling him.

"I know that we can't take care of both of them but we can look after at least one of them honey…we can't leave this child in such harsh living conditions especially with the war going on around them." The wife then answered as she was implying on only taking the one child home with them. The husband then looked up at his wife and thought about the situation as he knew she was right.

"If we take the child we must report it back to the Hokage once we return to Konoha." The husband then seemed as though he was considering it more than he was. They both then agreed that they would decide to take care of the child as they both then paused as the wife then looked back down at the child with a smile on her face.

"I've already thought of a name for him dear…Namikaze Minato." The couple then both smiled at each other at the fact of the new family member as they then parted from the broken down home heading to Konoha. As the couple left they had left behind a lonely child who had just had his brother taken away from him as the two parents left him alone. As the child began to cry the rain on the outside began to pour violently down onto the ground, as the child continued to cry the rain would keep coming down. After three days the rain had continued as the child didn't stop crying at the loss of his brother and from his own loneliness. Then after the three days another couple came by after hearing the sad and painful cries from the child.

"This child has the cry of a warrior, he keeps on crying but does it to make himself be heard." The man said to his wife as he entered the home looking over the cradle of the other child who had blonde hair as well as unique eyes that swirled around as if they were a bulls eye.

"He seems kind of weird, his eyes are like none other I've seen before…we can't just leave him here or else he may die." The father seemed interested in the child after all as he couldn't keep his eyes off of the child's unique and one of a kind trait. The father then picked up the child and held him up inspecting to see if there were any sort of problem with him.

"I think we should try and take care of him for now but with the current state of the hidden rain village, I don't think we will be able to care for him for long." The father then stared at the child pondering as he seemed to be trying to think of a name but nothing special came to mind.

"We should head back to the village now to inform the amekage and make sure that the boy has a safe home." The new mother of the child then told the father to bring him back as they both headed back to the village as fast as they could. The second ninja war was just beginning and these were times of harsh living and destruction as villages with previous alliances turned into bitter enemies and raised war upon the five great shinobi villages. After eight years of destruction and broken homes and families the two brothers had been in their rightful villages for eight years now and have now been part of a family.

"Jiraiya sensei when can we just take a break already I mean we've been going on and on forever and I'm the only one that's getting this right." Minato has now become a gennin and was the underling of Jiraiya who taught him everything he knew. Minato was an impatient kid who was a natural genius who absorbed everything right away as if you didn't need to teach him. Minato was very bright but didn't have any thoughts about his other team mates regarding their skills as he didn't realize that he was so much stronger than them.

"Minato this will probably sound ridiculous to you but there is no "I" in team, and you really need to learn how to help the team out by helping them out." Jiraiya tried to console with Minato as he wanted him to finally co-operate with his two team mates.

"Well I guess your right about that….but if you jumble the word around a bit there's a "me" in team." Minato then laughed as he knew he was getting on Jiraiya's nerves but liked to seem him get angry with his facial expression.

"Minato! I swear I'm going to teach you a lesson you won't soon forget!" Jiraiya then chased Minato around the field as Minato could only laugh while his sensei tried to catch him. Finally Jiraiya ended up catching Minato and then tied him to a tree as Minato looked angry that he was actually caught and it seemed like a shot to his own ego.

"Man you're fast Minato, but I finally caught you and as punishment I'm going to allow your two team-mates to have dinner right in front of you while you sit and watch them without even having a single bite." Jiraiya snickered as he had a grin at the fact he thought he might finally teach Minato a valuable lesson he might actually use. The two team mates the sat down in front of Minato and then began to eat bit it seemed as though they were a bit hesitant as they felt bad for their fellow team mate even though he hasn't been the most supportive team mate to say the least.

"M-Minato, you can have some of my ramen if you want…I don't think I can finish it all." The female team-mate spoke up as she couldn't eat in front of Minato without giving him at least something to eat as hey have been training all day without any breaks.

"You can have some of my rice as well Minato, I don't really like it anyways so it's fine if you have some." The male member of the team then spoke up as well as it seemed that the two team mates were offering a hand of friendship to Minato. Minato then smiled at the two of them but then quickly turned to a surprised and confused face at the same time.

"But why are you guys being so nice to me? I haven't done anything for you guys…I've always looked down on you guys to be honest." Minato felt a sharp pain in his stomach as he felt extremely guilty accepting their food as he felt like trash after treating them so badly and even after that they still stuck their neck out for him.

"We're team mates Minato, and no matter how bad the situation is we always have to look out for each other regardless, and during a mission I'm sure you would help us the same way we have done for you." The male member then came around and untied Minato as he was now free from the tree. Minato and his newly formed friends were now talking amongst one another and laughing out of enjoyment as Minato finally realized what being a team is all about and that he should form relationships with them instead of treating them so lowly.

"So he finally realized what I was trying to really teach him all this time…it's funny since he's a true genius but when it comes to his social life, he's as dumb as they get." Jiraiya had been watching from afar watching Minato and his team as he was wondering if Minato would actually finally interact with his team mates and accept them for who they were. While Minato had been living a great life with new friends and a great sensei who cared for him, Pein seemed to be having a different experience to say the least.

In the hidden rain village Pein had been caught in the middle of war and chaos had been brought upon the hidden rain village as there were many shinobi who perished during the dark times of the war as the streets were stained with blood.

"Everyone bring all the children in the garrison, the hidden mist is attacking!" A rain shinobi rushed to warn everyone to hide and begin for battle as they were in the midst of a war and they were all fighting for their lives. Pein and his family then readied for the ambush as a fellow rain shinobi was gathering the children to escort them to the garrison. As Pein was struggling to try and fight by his parents side and defend his village

"Let me fight! I can help them out, let me go! Mother, Father don't let them take me away!" As Pein was screaming out to plead with his parents and the escort to take him with the rest of the fighters he was helpless as he was placed in the garrison to be protected and isolated there. Pein wouldn't let up as he was banging on the walls of the garrison trying to escape but he couldn't break through.

"Kill them all and don't leave any one alive….show no mercy!" A hidden mist nin directed the army of shinobi to attack and massacre the entire village, including the amekage. The hidden mist had a massive army in the hidden rain as everyone tried to defend themselves but the sheer numbers of the hidden mist's army were to great as when one was killed another two would come up and kill the person who killed the mist shinobi. The mist's army had the original seven swordsman of the mist, and when they came into the picture the hidden rain slowly began to lose hope as the swordsman began to kill off the rain shinobi by the dozen as they were dominating the battlefield.

"Lord Amekage! you can't die on us, please try and hang on!" Eventually the amekage emerged from his quarters to assist in the battle but it seemed to be hopeless as the seven swordsman of the hidden mist were just to overpowering and had to much team work and planning for the amekage to stand up against as he was now on his death bed.

"Everyone we just received orders from mizukage sama, he's ordered us to retreat and return to the hidden mist for further orders, mission complete…it will be a long time before they recover from this." The Hidden mist shinobi had just received orders to return to the hidden mist much to the relief of the rain shinobi or what was left of them at least. The hidden rain's streets had been flooded with blood and dead bodies all over the place as this was more than just a massacre but a genocide that was caused the hidden rain to back track to try and rebuild their entire village, for the survivors…the blood will never wash away. As the battle was finally over and done with the people that were held in the garrison were finally released hoping to be reunited with their loved ones.

"Mother, father! Where are you!?" Pein ran out as fast as he could onto the streets of the village but once he took his first step he stood and stared in shock as the streets were filled with bodies and their blood. Pein couldn't move as he himself couldn't believe the amount of destruction that he just laid his eyes upon.

"W-What happened here…where have my parents gone…we were to weak to protect those who were close to us weren't we?…why couldn't I have fought, I would have helped!" Pein had his head down as he held back the tears as he clenched his fists tightly as from the tension on his hands they began to bleed. Pein didn't even say one word after that as he was in so much shock he couldn't comprehend the amount of damage that had been laid upon the village.

"They were to weak to kill the enemy, they weren't worth being spared if they couldn't even protect this many people from dying, even the amekage has been killed…we were just to weak, and we all paid for it." Pein then turned around and walked out of the hidden rain village as he took his forehead protector and grabbed a kunai of his and scratched a line through the village's symbol on the forehead protector signifying his ties with the village had been cut. Pein then continued walking as he was suffering from within but he held it back and bottled it up to not show any emotions to make him seem weak.

"I promise my self I will train to strive for the very best and make sure I will be strong enough to one day come back and take control of the village." Pein then disappeared in the shadows as he journeyed on his own from now on training the be the very best and would soon be the person to wreak havoc on the world. Pein would train by himself for almost fifteen years as he learned a lot and grew incredibly strong, he was now twenty five and he had killed many people to gain the power he had attained up until this day. Pein was never beaten ever in battle but with every kill he made, he became even less human, he became a one man wrecking machine who would kill anyone who stood in his way. Pein tried to keep himself a secret and didn't want any of his own goals to be revealed as he was planning on something much bigger than he had anticipated.

"In this day and age nobody is able to take care of themselves anymore, the hidden rain is the punching bag for all the other countries and villages as we have suffered for so long, I think it's time that I expose to everyone in the world just how strong I am and I will expose the weakness' of the great villages and knock them down one by one so I can form an empire under my name, by taking down all the villages and taking complete control I will be able to wage wars when I see fit and to subdue them when it's needed. I will create a new world by taking over each country and village including the hidden rain to show my supremacy over all. A new Dawn will break under me!" Pein had been darkened by his own power and had been driven to evil as he had been planning on taking over the world and creating an age of chaos and destruction under his own name.

Flashback over.

Jiraiya had been listening to the story of Pein the entire time but he didn't realize that he was Minato's brother just yet as Pein himself didn't even know clearly about that part but he did know he had a brother or someone close to him that was always there with him until one day when he was taken away from him and he was left behind. Pein had blank spots in his mind still and he couldn't help but try and remember them but with every try they just got harder to remember as his memory was stained with the blood of others.

"You're only bringing chaos to the whole world Pein! You're not helping anyone…you're just like the people who killed your parents!" Jiraiya lashed out at Pein as he was sickened by his lack of feelings for others as he relentlessly killed hundreds maybe thousands during those fifteen years.

"You have no idea what I'm like! I'm the one who will concur the entire world and make it my own taking you people down…I will not fail!" Pein then charged at Jiraiya with all his might and speed readying to cut him down but Jiraiya was just fast enough to dodge Pain's attack with the kunai.

"Konan do it now!" Pein then directed Konan to do something as he seemed to know what he was doing despite the fact of Jiraiya dodging his attack. Konan then edged up as she began to form a string of hand seals in front of Jiraiya.

"Time manipulation jutsu: Three hours of Pain!" Konan then finished the hand seals and had a ball of pure darkness enter Jiraiya's body. Jiraiya couldn't stop the attack as Konan had stopped time on his side and implanted some sort of black ball in his stomach. Jiraiya then screamed out in Pain as he squeezed his stomach as it was even hard for him to endure such a pain.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Jiraiya then tried to stand up straight but the sheer Pein was controlling his position as he then fell down to one knee. Pein then saw the opportunity to take advantage of Jiraiya's position as he ran up trying to stab him with the kunai in the back of the neck.

"Not yet!…Underworld Guardian Spikes!" Jiraiya then protected himself from Pein's attack by forming a shield of spikes around his whole body preventing himself from being harmed. Jiraiya then struggled to stand up as he was still enduring the pain from Konan's last attack.

"I guess I should stop using my weapons and get serious…Raging Thunder!" Pein then Clapped his hands together forming a hand seal enabling him to control the weather as he made a ferocious thunder storm raging down on Jiraiya as he tried to dodge all of the strikes that Pein was raining down on him.

"I need to dodge all his attacks at any cost so I don't get hit by that attack….it could be all over once he hits me." Jiraiya tried to find a weakness in Pein's attack and continued to keep an eye out for an opening but nothing was coming to mind until he finally thought up a way to counter Pein's attack, but it would come at a price.

"Don't even try getting away from this attack Jiraiya, actually you should feel honoured, seeing that I used this very attack on the legendary Uchiha Madara himself…unfortunately for him he died in our battle." Pein then dropped a bombshell on Jiraiya as he didn't know that Madara had been alive all these years up until a short while ago.

M-Madara?! How could someone be so powerful to beat Uchiha Madara? He was supposedly defeated by the first Hokage at the valley of the end, even he had trouble defeating Madara…he must be one of the most powerful shinobi I have ever seen and heard of in my life. Jiraiya seemed to be losing hope slowly throughout the battle as his plan that he had thought up now seemed useless against Pein after then realizing his sheer might before him.

"I have to try this anyways, it's the only thing I can think of…Toad mouth binding technique!" Jiraiya then summoned a toads mouth encircling Konan and Pein as he had hoped to stop them both for a brief moment while he would try and think of a plan. The technique seemed to be working as it had caught Konan and Pein and there seemed to be no movement on the inside.

If I try and wear him down I might be able to gain the upper hand…but this jutsu that the other woman used on me is taking to much of a toll on me right now, I'm only fighting at seventy percent at best right now and I'm getting weaker by the minute. Jiraiya was barely managing to pass by in the battle as Pein and Konan both knew this as well as they were completely calm inside the toad mouth technique.

"This is going to take a hell of a lot of chakra but this may work, or at least hold them off for now…Summoning jutsu!" Jiraiya then summoned Gamabunta to his side as he then climbed onto his back getting ready to implement his plan as he then directed gamabunta to spew out oil from his mouth.

"Gamabunta I need you to spit out as much as you can….it's now or never old friend!…Toad Oil Fireball!" Jiraiya then fired out a massive jet of fire from is mouth as gamabunta also spewed out a giant stream of oil as the two elements met each other then forming a gigantic fireball heading right for the toad mouth binding technique. As the Fireball hit the toad mouth it was heating up extremely fast on the inside as Pein and Konan were beginning to become worried as they didn't have any way out of the jutsu and Pein couldn't see Jiraiya so he couldn't fire down his attacks. Eventually after a few minutes Pein and Konan had been sweating profusely and have burns on their bodies and were breathing heavily as Jiraiya just wouldn't hold up on them as he knew the second he did they would find an opening right away and capitalize.

"P-Pein we need to get out of here right away or else we wont to much longer." Konan tried to think up a way to break free of the jutsu that Jiraiya had them trapped in as it was their lives that were on the line now.

"Konan try and using one of your dimension portals to teleport us out of here….it may be our only choice." Pein thought up an idea but he didn't realize that there were extreme risks to using that technique that Konan never told him about before, she was very sceptical about using this attack as Pein quickly noticed that.

"Pein if I use that attack he might not be able to come back as it relies solely on probability if we return our own dimension or not…that's why I only use it on other people to trap them since there are so many different door to other dimensions that they could be trapped for an eternity." Konan revealed to Pein that once they enter the portal they can solely rely on chance and luck as they won't know which door leads to which dimension as there are hundreds of various dimension they could be trapped in. Pein then looked shocked at Konan's explanation as he they were both debating on whether or not to actually use the technique.

"Konan, like I said we may not have another choice… we have to use it." Konan then summoned the portal as the two shinobi then nodded to each other and both walked into the portal hoping for the best as they didn't know what to expect in the dimension as Uchiha Madara was the possibly the only one that could break free of the dimension since he ha the Sharingan and it was fully developed rather than Sasuke's and Itachi's as they don't have full control over all three mangekyou Sharingan's.

"Let's stop for a second Gamabunta…we don't want to drain all our chakra so easily." Jiraiya then halted the jutsu as he then hopped off to check the status and condition of Pein and Konan. When Jiraiya edged slowly towards the toad mouth it finally completely turned to mush as the flames were just to much, but much to the surprise and dismay of Jiraiya he heard a strange sound behind him. As Jiraiya then turned around he saw a black portal forming as it got bigger by the second, Jiraiya could only think that it had to be trouble as he finally saw the images of Pein and Konan as they finally touched down onto the ground.

"I-Impossible, how did you two get out of there? At least it seems that they weren't completely unscathed though." As Jiraiya was appalled by the events that had just happened, he then tried to reassure himself by noticing that Pein and Konan had severe burns on them and were tired from the heat exhaustion that they had suffered from the powerful attack.

"I have the rare ability to manipulate and control time as I please, even though it takes a great amount of chakra and comes at a great risk…I'm the only one in my clan to have been able to complete it." Konan then implied that she had been the most able and powerful of her clan as she had mastered the sought after jutsu of her clan.

What a powerful ability, I have to keep on guard or I could be done fore sooner than I had thought. Jiraiya seemed a bit nervous but more surprised as he had never seen anything like that jutsu before even through all those battles in the past with many powerful opponents.

"This battle has already taken longer than I would have liked, it's time to end this now…I've been watching your movements." Pein then decided to stop right there as he felt it wasn't needed to reveal anything else unnecessary to Jiraiya as it could eventually end up costing him the battle. Jiraiya then grinned as he thought of something that he could use against them in the battle, even though Jiraiya had thought of a plan he had endured the pain of Konan's jutsu for just over two and a half hours so he didn't have much time to work with.

"It seems as though the jutsu has taken quite the toll on your Jiraiya, you're sweating and clenching your fists and gripping your chest area…this makes it that much easier." Konan then rushed at Jiraiya as she then formed five clones around her planning to strike him down from all sides, but when she then hit Jiraiya he disappeared as it was only a shadow clone.

"W-Where did he go Konan!?" Pein seemed a bit worried as the entire time he thought that Jiraiya had been there the entire time but he was just proven wrong by the sannin. Pein then heard Jiraiya's voice from afar as he then looked around to try and discover his hiding place.

"You shouldn't underestimate me so easily!…Swamp of the Underworld!" Jiraiya then summoned a massive swamp underneath the two Akatsuki but as he did Pein quickly fled out of the way as Konan instead was entangled in the swamp as the snakes and demons were ready to take her life in a heartbeat. Pein then rushed over to the aid of Konan as he tried to help her escape from Jiraiya's jutsu but Jiraiya seemed to be in complete control of the situation.

"I can take her life at any time, and yours to if you get to close so I wouldn't do that if I were you Pein!" Jiraiya then flipped his hand as Konan then began to sink down a bit further as one of the snakes wrapped around her suffocating her entirely as she was on the edge of her life. Pein was extremely frustrated now as he knew he couldn't do much even with his weather techniques.

"Now it's time for you to see the true power of a sannin!…Food cart Destroyer!" Jiraiya then formed a new seal as he summoned a giant toad from out of nowhere as it then fell right on top of Konan crushing her and in the process pushing her down into the underworld which Jiraiya had created for her own demise. Jiraiya then began to pant even heavier after that technique as he had used up a significant amount of chakra to use those two techniques in unison as it took those two powerful techniques just to take down one Akatsuki.

"You've over lived your stay here Jiraiya, and now it's time for you to go!…Storm of a Thousand Years!" All of a sudden Pein had a completely different look in his eyes as he was completely intense and focused in on killing Jiraiya and avenging Konan. Then the sky turned pitch black and the clouds turned a deep purple when the rain finally started to fall as a torrential rainfall. Then the wind began to pick up as a funnel cloud formed around Jiraiya, but when he tried to escape it's own radius Pein summoned a lightning bolt to strike down wherever Jiraiya would move to therefore forcing him to move back into the cloud. As it finally formed into a raging tornado it lifted Jiraiya right off the ground as the rain still began to fall violently, but since the rain had been pouring around Jiraiya's area Pein then decided to add lighting around the tornado therefore infusing the two elements causing a whirlwind of lightning as it was even further conducted by the water around Jiraiya. Jiraiya was now helpless as he couldn't even move and was being tossed around like a rag doll and being electrocuted to death.

"Witness my ultimate jutsu sannin!" Pein wouldn't let up as he knew that this would finish the legendary sannin Jiraiya once and for all and he didn't want to waste this chance as this technique took and immense amount of chakra and chakra manipulation.

"M-Minato…I tried my best." Jiraiya then uttered his last words while sonly after passing on after honourably fighting perhaps the most intense and difficult battle of his life. Jiraiya managed to take down Konan but in the long run it didn't end up benefiting him as Pein was just to strong and came out on top as he then notched another victory for himself as Jiraiya joined many other including Uchiha Madara.

Back where Naruto and company were, they saw the dark clouds forming around in the sky in the distance as they then rushed towards the what seemed to be dangerous area and little did they know they would meet the person that would soon make his final move to take over the world.

Next chapter, Naruto and company arrive at the scene of Jiraiya's death only to see the face of his killer and the leader of the Akatsuki organization that has been wreaking havoc all over the place, as Naruto goes face to face with Pein to be the last chance to finally stop him and his plans how will he fare against Pein after he defeated Madara and Jiraiya, and how much does Pein have left in him after defeating those two?

Next Chapter: A New Dawn Breaks: Save The World!