I canne own it Cap'an

Plucking Strings

"Puppets interacting with other puppets is super complicated. You're juggling ten balls instead of three." - Duke Johnsons

A building exploded behind him as Naruto dashed down an adjacent street. He hoped that the smoke and dust would cover his sudden change in direction, but it was a slim hope at best. Anything that one Pein saw, the rest did too. He found that out the hard way when he tried to double back and ambush one. It only earned him a nasty burn up his left arm. The one that the Hokage had called Shuradō was one to watch out for. Naruto wasn't sure if the human-puppet-thing had a limit on what it could transform its body into… and he didn't particularly want to find out.

Right now, it was at least predictable, preferring to pepper Naruto's general location with slim black cannisters that exploded on contact with any surface. Naruto wasn't even sure he could get a sealing tag to do that… too many variables for it to be worth it. That one wasn't even the worst. Gakidō, or the Preta Path – Naruto admittedly wasn't that familiar with old Ninshū philosophy – was proving to be a nightmare. Its ability to drain Chakra from anything close to it was proving extremely difficult to work around.

The other one chasing him, Ningendō he believed, didn't appear to have any kind of outward ability to speak of – although, the Sandaime's warning to not let it get close echoed in his mind – but was just as fast, strong and tough as the rest. It also wielded those extremely annoying black rods that apparently all of them could make. One scratch and anything Chakra-based went haywire. Naruto didn't exactly have the luxury of engaging in any kind of elegant or evasive taijutsu with his puppets, not when one was trying to blow him up, and the other was attempting to drain him dry.

Puppets filled the streets around him, attempting to lay traps as best they could in their limited timeframe. He had a good map of the village in his head thanks to the many, many clones he had sent on various chores, but working off pure memory alone proved-near impossible and the fact that the Asura Path had no qualms blowing up any potential landmarks wasn't helping. He was using the technique he had developed to see through his puppets' eyes, but the vision he got through them was limited at best, and he had never used it on so many at once. It was like trying to watch five different screens at once while somebody threw kunai at you.

Actually, that sounded positively easy in comparison.

He turned another corner and dived forward, sliding across rubble-strewn ground. Gakidō was only a few seconds behind, rounding the corner with a singular kind of intensity. Ramia, from the next street over, launched a small cannister into the air. It promptly exploded outward, briefly filling the sky with blinding light. He hoped that would prevent the other two from seeing as Arakune emerged from her hiding spot, body turned.

Long, thick strands of adhesive shot out from her spinnerets, rapidly forming a glistening barrier across the street. The Preta Path was no fool though and stopped before his momentum could force him into the trap. Naruto wasn't an idiot either. He pulled the Chakra string connected to the tag he had dropped mid-dive, now directly behind Gakidō's feet. The blast was hardly damaging, but it had enough force to slam the human puppet into the web.

Naruto grinned, only for the expression to twist as he rolled backwards, narrowly avoiding the hum of a buzzsaw opening his throat. Shuradō's permanent, manic grin taunted him as the cowled Path stalked forward, other arm shifting into a nasty-looking cannon of some kind. Ramia exploded through a wall, showering the Asura Path with debris. Pein's body turned to swipe at the puppet, but now that Naruto could bring his full concentration to bear they seemed evenly matched for speed for once.

Although, that probably had more to do with Pein's concentration being split between two battles.

He glanced over just in time to spot Ningendō cutting the Preta Path out of his webbing with one of those damned black rods. He forced Ramia to spin, tail whipping out like a battering ram to slam the Asura Path to the side. It created a gap in their line that he immediately capitalised on, jumping onto Ramia's tail and practically surfing her as she slithered off again, beginning the chase anew. If he didn't think of something to break the stalemate soon, he was going to quickly run out of tricks.

Hiruzen shifted to the side, neatly stepping around another invisible blast of force. Five seconds, that appeared to be the minimum recharge period before Pein could use the technique again. He had the bruises on his chest to confirm that little experiment. He swung Enma forward, willing the staff to extend at the peak of the arc. He aimed it at Tendō, and the man naturally moved to the side, but at the last minute he forced his weapon down, digging it into the ground.

He willed the staff to contract again and was thrown forward from the abrupt shortening. He released his grip and flew through hand seals, neatly mirrored by the shadow clone that had managed to circle around the Naraka Path.

"Katon: Karyū Endan!"

The dragon of pure flame flew true, and would have struck Jigokudō at the same moment as his clone's wind technique if the ground beneath the Path didn't suddenly burst open. The flames were fanned into a blistering vortex, but their only victim was the hideous centipede summon the Animal Path had conjured up. He hadn't yet seen the limit of what Chikoshōdō could summon, and right now it was increasingly looking like it was whatever he wanted.

He landed just in time for a monstrously large rhinoceros to come barrelling in from his left. It was just barely diverted from spearing him through with its jagged horn as Enma slammed into its head from the side.

"Thank you, old friend," he gasped. He hadn't exerted himself like this in years.

"Thank me by surviving Hiruzen, you haven't made it this far to be brought down by some upstart braggard claiming to be G-"

Enma was thrown backward, slammed right through a building as Pein's Heavenly Subjugation picked him up and tossed him aside as easily as a ragdoll. Hiruzen didn't miss a beat, pivoting and throwing out a handful of shuriken. His old partner wasn't so brittle that such a blow could put him down.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" The flying weapons multiplied in an instant. Five becoming twenty, becoming a hundred. Pein simply drew one of his Chakra rods and deflected any that got close with contemptuous ease.

"Is this all you have for me Hokage? Old monkeys and brittle metal? You were once called a God yourself, but age has crippled you."

The Sandaime smiled, bringing his arm up as the adamantine staff flew back into his hand.

"On the contrary, age has given me much. Perspective, wisdom, and the pleasure of seeing new generations rise up to surpass their predecessors."

His eyes glancing up was the only warning Pein received as a shadow rapidly grew over his form.

"Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu!"

Gamabunta slammed down on top of Tendō's body like a meteor, scattering dust and debris in every direction as his full two hundred tonnes of weight cratered the ground. One of Pein's summons lurched forward, a grotesque panda that looked to be sculpted from rock, but the enormous toad-summon merely lashed out with the equally massive tanto at its side, slicing it clean in two.

"Sorry to be late, Sensei," Jiraiya called with his trademark grin, sliding down off Gamabunta's back to land beside his former teacher. "These ugly bastards are all over the village, and I've had to summon 'Ken and 'Hiro to put 'em down. Left me a bit light on the ol' tank."

"Your timing is as immaculate as ever Jiraiya."

The white-haired super pervert cracked his neck as he observed the other two paths watching them warily.

"So, these are the guys that took down Hanzō? Don't look too tough."

Gamabunta lurched backwards, arms flailing as an enormous force from below threatened to capsize the boss-summon. Only his suprising dexterity prevented him crushing a couple of houses as he stumbled backwards, revealing an unruffled Tendō standing in the crater below.

"Jiraiya-sensei, I was beginning to wonder if you would make an appearance."

The jovial Sannin froze, unable to tear his eyes away from a sight he thought could only haunt his dreams.

"Yahiko?"

Kisame grunted as he used his sword to divert another bone-shattering kick to the side. There was no blocking these blows; he was afraid even Samehada might crack under this kind of force. It had already lost some scales when the bowl-cut beast in front of them had tapped into the fifth gate. Gai was now on the sixth, and was all the more terrifying for it. He moved like a one-man hurricane, and Kisame loved every moment of it.

He hadn't faced an opponent this good in years. Itachi was always fun for a quick spar, but his Uchiha companion was always the subtle, slippery sort, never one for a direct fight. This was what Kisame lived for, ever since gutting Fuguki and grabbing his destiny by the handle. He roared his approval and dived forward, slamming another roundhouse to the side and continuing the sweep of his sword, bringing it around to shave into Gai's back.

Samehada barely brushed his flak jacket before his foot touched the water and the man vanished again in a burst of pure speed. Kisame felt something in his arm groan warningly as the Green Beast's foot brushed it. Samehada fed him some Chakra to heal it, but his sword was beginning to run low. Even on the rare occasions he did manage to brush Gai, Samehada barely stole any Chakra. Whatever technique the man was using, it seemed to internalise all of his energy.

Another brutal kick spun him around and he scowled. Fighting was fun, but getting kicked around wasn't. He dived forward, spearing into the dome of water below him like it was air and speeding off down into the depths. The familiar tingle of Samehada merging with him, lending him its power directly, enveloped his body as it shifted into something more shark-like. He turned in the water, looking up in time to see Gai leap into the air.

He had expected the man to follow him with his typical fist-first approach. Instead, in the next moment he saw fire begin to rain down from the sky. Kisame couldn't help but scoff, as if a simple katon technique would be able to breach his water dome. However, his eyes widened comically as he noticed that it was beginning to grow awfully warm inside the dome. Steam blocked his view of the other combatant as fire just kept raining down.

Despite the sudden warmth, Kisame felt a cold shiver travel the length of his spine.

Two of his hearts detached from his back as he strode forward, pulling out writhing masses of his Jiongu for their bodies. His wind and fire hearts he forced down his arm, the black threads bulging grotesquely to make room for the two masks. Both launched devastating techniques, merging together and fueling one another until he had a controlled spout of fiery death cascading from his arm. He swept it around him, hoping to catch the damnable wind-user. He was the highest bounty present, and the only one capably of breaking through his Doton: Domu.

His arm suddenly jerked upward, captured again by the Nara's technique. It broke almost instantly as his lighting mask swooped down to harass the shadow-user, but it cost him a sure-fire kill on the Sarutobi. He didn't quite 'see' out of his masks, but he could gleam vague warnings from them. His water mask was warning him of somebody rushing up from behind. He turned, the skin around his arm hardening to diamond-like toughness as he speared it forward.

His new attacker side-stepped his strike, and the following sweep, moving with a kind of preternatural grace. He didn't need to see the eyes to know it was a Hyuuga. He almost wanted to laugh as he felt her fingers slam into his body, aimed at vital points that on most other opponents, would have been crippling. They felt like a child's breath against his iron-skin.

"Hinata!" The Nara called out as his fire and wind hearts shifted around to face her. She was caught unprepared by the failure of her ambush and would have been roasted if the boy didn't use his shadow to roll her beneath the conflagration. Hyuuga Hinata, Kakuzu recognised the name. A bounty not quite on the same level as Asuma's, but he was sure he could wrangle a good deal out of a clan heir like her.

He moved forward, but blinked in shock as the girl shot forward faster than he would have expected. He hardened his body again as she closed in, already bringing his masks around to finish her off, but grunted as her palm slammed into his chest. Those were not the light taps of the jyuuken. What looked to be flaming lions of pure Chakra wreathed her hands, and the blow was enough to knock the wind out of him. The next wasn't so merciful, bypassing his Doton technique entirely and reducing his heart to pulp.

He knew, even as his vision blurred and he felt the wind heart shifting to take its counterpart's place, that the Hyuuga would not be fooled by playing dead.

No matter. He would just take her heart as payment.

The extendable pike was still stuck through his chest as Hidan laughed in delight, observing the behemoth fall. The red-haired man's body shrank as he dropped through the sky, bearing cuts and scratches that perfectly matched the ones already healing across Hidan's skin. He ripped the telescopic spike out of his heart and gasped at the clarity the pain brought him. It seemed to crystallize the moment, searing it into his soul forever.

He heard the illusionist cry out the man's name, but was beyond caring for a dead man now. He felt his ritual fade away and yearned to begin it anew, but the raven-haired woman had so far proved elusive. It wasn't nearly as easy to get a drop of blood from her as it had been from the lumbering giant. He shot forward and cleaved her in two, only for her image to distort and twist, shifting unnaturally as pale skin became rough bark.

It was like watching a tree grow in fast forward as the thick wooden boughs ensnared his limbs, completely immobilising him. The woman appeared in front of him in a flurry of petals, her red eyes blazing with fury as she drew a kunai. He so wanted to see that intensity twisted into terror and pain, before vanishing as the light bled from her eyes. Before she could come closer with the ninja-wire in hand, he bit down hard on his tongue, managing to sever the very tip.

The pain shattered the genjutsu and he lurched forward, unrestricted. He nearly had her, scythe coming around in a beautiful arc of red, but more wood grew in to grab and pull at his body, once again bringing him to a stop.

"Amover iwwusion?" He snarked through the blood pooling in his mouth. "Fo umcwea'ive." He still had enough mobility to bring his scythe back around, slamming all three blades into his stomach. The pain was ecstatic, but the branches didn't vanish.

"This one's not an illusion," a masked figure snarled as he dropped from a nearby roof, already flashing through hand seals. The branches around Hidan's body constricted, twisting his arms until they snapped. Even through the pain he kept his grin.

"Ou'll make a goob hacrifithe!"

"Katsu!"

Another building exploded outward, walls scattered across the neighbouring streets and a beautiful plume of smoke wafted up into the sky. Even so, Deidara saw the tell-tale streak of silver that told him his foe hadn't been similarly scattered with it. Another flock of clay birds rained down on the slippery Copy-nin, jinking madly to avoid the flurry of lighting ninjutsu he sent up at them. Blast after blast cratered the ground and Kakashi somehow avoided them all. Sometimes it was speed, sometimes it was just a clone, every time it was infuriating.

The cycloptic Jounin couldn't escape him though, not with the reticule over Deidara's left eye constantly tracking him. Finally, he grinned as Kakashi sprinted right into his trap. The man darted inside a roofless building only to find the walls coming alive. Thin, almost papery centipedes of clay scuttled out of every crevice, rapidly entwining around the man until all you could see of him was that infuriating Sharingan eye.

How Deidara hated that eye.

His dragon swooped lower so he could get a better view, but paused in it's descent. Deidara's vision blurred ever so slightly around edges and he immediately pulsed his Chakra, his pupil dilating as he had trained it to do. The genjutsu shattered and he leapt to the side just in time to prevent a lighting-sheathed hand spearing through his heart. He gritted his teeth against the pain as it instead cleaved right through his shoulder, nearly taking the arm off.

He rolled with the momentum, allowing himself to drop from his mount even as it bloated obscenely behind him. The explosion buffeted his body as he fell, but his good hand managed to spit out a wad of clay that broke his fall.

He rolled to his feet and released a wordless shriek of frustration at the injustice of the Sharingan. First Itachi, now this clown. He was going to destroy them all. He was going to destroy everything!

Sasuke had improved. The little pining child that had so often asked him to help with a new technique was gone. Itachi felt the twangs of pride and melancholy reflect dully off his steely façade. His face could show nothing of his emotions. Not the joy he felt when he saw the depths of Sasuke's power in the crackling lighting around his brother's hand. Not the despair that threatened to overwhelm him when he thought how little he had to do with that growth.

Their dance was an elegant one, a movement between two partners who knew each other intimately. Their fighting styles were similar, if diverging in different directions. Itachi had always been a prodigy at whatever he tried, it just came naturally to him. He had mastered the Uchiha stances to perfection, then found them wanting. He altered them, making them better suited to his subtler nature.

Sasuke had never finished his training, Itachi had stolen that from him along with everything else. He had taken the half-learned kata of his taijutsu and made them his own. Experience fighting through a war had been his teacher, letting him know what worked and what could be discarded. Through it all he had built up a large repertoire of techniques, primarily ninjutsu, that he seamlessly blended into his fighting. Mostly Raiton techniques, although considering the fact that he had been fighting mostly Kumo-nin, that was to be expected.

A stroke of good luck, as from the strength of his jutsu, Sasuke appeared to be lightning natured. It also allowed him to do things with the Chidori that its creator could never have dreamed. Where Kakashi had improved its power into the Raikiri, Sasuke had focused on the shape manipulation and made it a truly versatile technique. He was a trueborn Uchiha just coming into his prime, and to his older brother, it was a sight to behold.

And it still wasn't enough.

Itachi diverted the teen's sword to the side almost contemptuously, slipping an explosive tag on the underside. He had wreathed his hand in the faintest coating of fuuton Chakra to dampen the buzzing edge of his brother's blade, then used that to take a swipe at Sasuke's eyes. It was an incredibly ingrained reflex that had Sasuke ducking back hastily, instincts to protect his doujutsu overriding everything else. It was something he would have been trained to compensate for by their father, and Itachi exploited it ruthlessly as he used the moment to weave another genjutsu.

Sasuke had come far, but he had so much farther to go.

Naruto dived through the window of a burned-out house, ripping the tattered remains of his jacket off and tossing it to the side. The moment he felt the Human Path follow him he substituted with it, simultaneously releasing the explosive seals inscribed on the lining. Paranoid what-now? The blast rocked the already hollowed-out house and Naruto was forced to roll out of the way of a support beam as he sprinted out through another window.

The Asura Path was waiting for him on the other side, but so was Ramia. The heavy puppet burst out of the ground and grabbed Shuradō's legs before pulling down, burying him up to his waist. A distraction, giving him a few seconds at best. Hane swooped down and he leapt up, grabbing onto an outstretched talon and using it to propel him up onto the adjacent roof to continue his mad dash. It was in sight now.

The Preta Path came barrelling out of nowhere, arms outstretched to capture him in a bear hug he wouldn't be escaping from. He stumbled as Naruto used his strings to wrench a rooftile out from under him. The slight hesitation gave Hane enough time to turn on a ryo in mid-air, the spin propelling a dozen lethal feathers at Gakidō. Without Chakra in the technique to absorb, all he could do was raise his arms to block them as Naruto raced past.

He burst through the doors of his building almost as recklessly as when he had been poisoned, sprinting right up the far wall of the stairwell without stopping. Despite his haste, for the first time since the fight started, a genuine grin lit up his features. The three Paths followed him barely a moment later, but he had already vanished.

"You're in my world now," his voice called out, echoing off so many walls as to almost make it nonsensical. The inherent taunt however, couldn't be misunderstood.

The three human puppets fanned out, rushing through the building. It was only a matter of one of them spotting him for the others to know his location. He had no intention of simply waiting for them to find him though. His first stop had been to grab a spare jacket, he would need the pockets as he went about storing only his most precious and important possessions. In his mind, he was already apologising to everything else as he ducked into his workshop.

The Asura Path unwittingly followed him in seconds later, but only saw a barren space filled with racks upon racks of lifeless puppets. That changed when he walked further into the room. The puppets nearest to him, copies of Ramia, abruptly lashed out. A thick tail struck Shuradō's leg, bringing him to his knees. He raised an arm, shifting it into a buzzsaw to ward off the suddenly animated puppets, only to find the blade jammed by a wad of adhesive.

Another puppet threw herself on top of him, nearly burying him under her bulk. His Akatsuki cloak tore open at the shoulders to make way for four extra arms, each of which grabbed a puppet and roughly threw them off. The strength that implied, considering each Ramia weighed almost four times that of an average person, was staggering. More puppets swam through the melee to join the dogpile, looking to bury the Asura Path through sheer numbers.

The crown of his head suddenly folded open, revealing a strange metallic mechanism around a circular depression. It glowed warningly for only moment before every puppet was blasted back, the crack of it resonating through the entire building. Using the moment of reprieve, all six of Shuradō's arms shifted into something else. Another buzzsaw, a humming blade, a cannon with no visible ammunition, two poles crackling with electricity, something that looked like a vacuum cleaner and web of prehensile cables formed from distended fingers.

Standing there, crouched low to the ground like a cornered animal, it looked the very picture of death. Naruto had timed it to perfection, as at that moment the Human Path rushed in. Chakra strings lashed out, connecting to key joints across Shuradō's body. Naruto didn't waste any time even trying to contest his will against Pein's and immediately flooded he connection with the Kyuubi's Chakra.

"Sōen: Giasu," he ground out through gritted teeth, once again contesting two powerful wills in a battle of dominion. He had learned his lesson though, shunting the Kyuubi's power out of his body as quickly as it was called forth. It proved too much for the human puppet and the Rinnegan in his eyes winked out, replaced by a slitted red. Foreign information suddenly swarmed in Naruto's mind as the basics of the Asura Path's abilities became known to him.

The Human Path was caught unawares as its supposed ally suddenly turned on him, a buzzsaw coming around to slice his arm off. He tried to leap back, but was overtaken by a net of wire-like fingers that held him in place as the Chakra cannon charged. Naruto didn't hold back, using all of the Chakra Pein had so helpfully provided and shunting it out in one titanic burst. A shrill whine filled the air as the room was bathed in white, and when he next looked, Ningendō was simply gone.

Just in time too, as Pein finally managed to reassert his will over Shuradō; a little too late. In that moment's hesitation between the shift in control, the Asura Path was completely vulnerable. Ten different water cannons charged up as one, and when they were through, little remained of Shuradō but sparking mechanical limbs. Naruto wanted to allow himself a grin of satisfaction, but couldn't afford to as the Preta Path came barrelling into the room.

He charged right through the crowd of puppets, causing them to fall limp just from sheer proximity. The blond snarled; he was by far the most annoying of the Paths. He ducked out his hiding place, dropping his henge that made him look like a common Dami, and sprinted back across the room. He avoided Gakidō's grasp by inches to jump out the adjacent window, catching himself on the far wall of the stairwell. He held himself there a moment, muttering a brief apology, before backflipping to land in a crouch at the base of the building.

The Chakra strings he had been latching onto the walls before his leap all pulsed as one, discordantly excited against Naruto's irritation at what he was being forced to do. He barely dived through the outside doors before the entire building summarily imploded. Strategic explosive seals brought the entire structure down in a controlled demolition designed for maximum damage to anything inside, without damaging any of the surrounding buildings.

He rolled to a stop on the street, rubbing at where a few stray bits of rubble had struck him. So, his calculations hadn't been perfect, but close enough. The entire building was just a smoking pile of debris; tons of concrete neatly piled in a rough heap.

"Absorb that," he muttered impudently, taking in the sight of his home in ruins for a final time before turning to go back and assist the Hokage. He had barely taken two steps before he felt the familiar sensation of weightlessness followed by the harsh wake-up call of being slammed into unyielding masonry. He groaned lightly as he picked himself out of the wall, turning a watery gaze to where Pein stood, just now lowering his arm.

"I warned you, that struggling was futile," he said. Even now, his voice didn't waver. "Destroy as many of my bodies as you like, they are replaceable. You do not face a man, or an army… you face a God. The only action you can take, now… or later, is to succumb."

Naruto chuckled as he staggered to his feet, cracking his shoulders. The aches were beginning to pile up, but he couldn't afford to show any of it. "Killing Sasori clearly didn't do the Akatsuki's research any favours. If you'd brushed up a little better, you'd know that I'm really bad at giving up." He briefly wondered where the Hokage was, and how Pein had managed to get away from him. Thankfully, his worries were assuaged as he noticed a thin staff extend up into the sky some distance away, fending off a huge summon that looked like a giant, skinless bat.

Pein's eyes narrowed as he raised his arm again, a Chakra rod slipping into the other hand.

"Banshō Ten'in."

Naruto flew forward, limbs flailing behind him, but this time he was prepared. At the last moment he substituted with a henged Dami. Suddenly, it wasn't Naruto impaled on that Chakra rod, but Konan, complete with the perfectly straight seams across her skin that flaked off into illusory sheets of paper. Naruto wasn't sure what to expect form that move, banking on anything from indifference to a moment of hesitation.

What he hadn't expected, was for Pein's eyes to widen as the orange-haired man froze in place. He looked totally stunned, even as Konan's image wavered and shattered from the disrupting nature of the Chakra rod. Naruto was never one to turn down a prime opportunity though, and Asura's enormous fist slammed down right on top of Tendō, buffeting the puppeteer's clothes with the shockwave. There was no playing it safe with this one though, and the hand rose again, replaced by Asura's other fist in a brutal ground punch that deepened the crater.

Right – Left – Right – Left. Asura's fists descended again and again, only speeding up as they got into the rhythm of it. Ground-shaking strikes that threatened to throw Naruto back from the sheer force of the blows.

He should have been paying more attention. His only warning was the sudden disappearance of all of Pein's summoned animals across the village. The seventh blow descended, and froze in mid-air, held back by a curtain of invisible force. Pein slowly picked himself up in the centre of the six-foot depression. His cloak was practically falling off his body, ripped and torn against the slim spikes driven into his body.

Far from the cultured, implacable gaze that hadn't been so much as stirred throughout this entire invasion, Pein now wore a mask of cold fury. Already intimidating Rinnegan eyes were intense and steely, almost appearing to glow as he raised a hand directly upwards.

"Shinra Tensei."

It was a cold, harsh whisper, but a whisper that seemed to brush all of creation aside as everything around the man was blown back indiscriminately. Naruto barely saw Asura's body arc up into the air, like a toy tossed aside by a child, as his own perspective tumbled helplessly along with his body. He hit something, feeling his neck twist uncomfortably as his vision swam. It snapped into focus in time for Pein to step into view, staring down at him with eyes that seemed to burn through the blond.

Those ringed eyes narrowed and Pein's lips twisted in irritation. He raised his arm to the side and the real Naruto suddenly flew out of his hiding spot.

"No more tricks."

Seconds stretched out into minutes as the wind was blasted from Naruto's lungs. A searing pain screamed at him distantly, somewhere to his left. Hazy eyes watched something limp flying away from them through blurred vision, trailing glittery arcs of crimson. There was a disconnect between mind and body, all of it feeling like a dream.

Then he gasped, and the cold knifes stabbing into his chest sharpened the image back into reality.

He was roughly slammed into the ground, and it was only when he instinctively sought out a nearby puppet with his Chakra threads and nothing happened that he realised what had happened. Pein had cut off his left arm. The pain itself was muted by adrenaline and fear, and the Chakra rod that was promptly driven into his side felt like an ordinary punch. The substitution he had instinctively been attempting with Dami's battered form was smothered in its crib as his Chakra control went haywire.

Those had been annoying when they disrupted his puppets; actually having one in him was a different story entirely. It was like he was aware of his entire Chakra network for the first time in his life, but it was locked away behind an impossibly thick sheet of glass. What had once flowed freely and nimbly to his mind's whim, powerful, but directed, now felt like a sluggish soup, tantalisingly out of reach. There was Pein too, his will imbued in the rod feeling like a boulder pressing down on his chest.

Underneath all of that was an enormous pressure Naruto knew all too well.

"Enough struggling," Pein growled, the first hint of emotion in his voice since this entire debacle began. "See the futility of your resistance." He stood, confident in the Chakra rod's ability to keep Naruto from doing anything. "I have already won. Konoha falls around you, and Kumo will soon follow. Your petty struggles are merely the flailing of a child, unable to grasp the larger picture."

Naruto coughed, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of his mouth. All the same, he grinned.

"You really… like the sound… of your own voice… don't you?"

Pein's eyes narrowed and he stepped forward, pausing when Naruto gave a choking laugh.

"Wouldn't do that… won't learn… where Konan is."

Naruto wasn't really expecting Pein to fall for it, but after seeing his reaction to the henged puppet, he had to try. The slight hesitation was all he needed and Pein's eyes widened as flaming orange strings of Chakra lashed onto his body.

"As somebody I once respected said," Naruto choked out, revealing the bloody Chakra rod in his hand, "A real puppeteer isn't defeated while there's still a body left to control." He lurched forward and stabbed the sharpened spike right through Pein's stomach, already feeling his control over the Path waver and break. The rod brought him up short again, now practically flooded with Naruto's Chakra as he had been shunting everything he could into it during Pein's speech.

The gamble, that the disruption of control could work both ways, paid off. Dami closed the distance in the precious seconds Pein spent fighting his own body and slammed the rasengan into the corpse's back with the force of a train. Naruto didn't let up, feeding the puppet Chakra until his hand spasmed from the exertion, willing that slim wooden form to keep drilling down with the technique until it burst out Pein's chest.

Only when the Rinnegan faded from the man's eyes did Naruto allow himself to fall back, lacking the strength to even catch himself with Dami. He panted on the ground, feeling the adrenaline slowly fade away, replaced by the aching throb coming from what used to be his left arm. He glanced at it and winced. It was severed neatly at the shoulder, and the sight of the bloody stump wiggling like that nearly made him sick.

"That's going to take some getting used to," he mumbled weakly, before slumping to the side.

Translations:
Katon: Karyū Endan - Fire release: Fire dragon flame bullet
Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu - Summoning: Food cart destroyer technique