A/N: Hello, I welcome you to a new chapter of 'Kid of the Hunt.'
I suppose you saw how I really cut down on the fighting scenes last chapter. I will try and make the chapters more Naruto centric, now obviously with Tsunade interactions to start wrapping up this fiction. It's obviously embarassing how long it takes me to finish the story, but I will cut rather unnecessary parts of side characters fighting because quite frankly it's too much and the focus really isn't on the side characters anyways. I plan on doing more oneshots or short fanfics in the future, but I won't abandon the story which I started here.There will be some more team up, but it will become more Naruto centric from now on.
With that said, enjoy the new chapter!
The tension was easily visible, no one besides Naruto and Pain, trapped in their little world of an intense death battle, dared to move.
The first to walk was a small frame, which yet remained unseen. The man stepped forward, standing next to Sasuke and directly in front of Kisame.
"Ohhh, Mizukage-sama, to what do we owe this pleasure?", Kisame cackled.
With a silent deathglare, Yagura released the Sanbi, making the surrounding ninja jump away.
"You will pay for your foolish betrayal, Kisame."
"Really now? I can't remember the last time went well for you."
"I do not care about last time. For the disgraceful acts you have commited, I will make you suffer, one way or the other!"
Yagura created a small lake around him and started attacking Kisame.
"All the Jinchuuriki have gathered here! So does that mean...", Kakashi trailed off, looking to see the eight tailed, but not fully transformed creature in front of him.
"Yes, there is a Nine Tails Jinchuuriki. I suppose you are cunning enough to know who he might be, Kakashi-senpai.", Itachi replied, getting shocked stares from all the Konoha shinobi.
"No, you mean...", Sakura answered, tears pooling in her eyes when she saw the familiar creature fighting the Akatsuki leader. Even Sasuke looked shocked.
There was no further time though. With Naruto and Yagura already fighting, all hell went loose as everyone started fighting anything. Weapons, explosions, elements, everything was thrown around in an incomprehensive mess.
Minato ran over to the group of people surrounding the Godaime Hokage.
"Quick, let's get you out of here. Tsunade-sama won't heal here."
"Minato? Is that the Edo-Tensei?", Jiraiya asked, struck with shock.
"Yes, sensei. It appears my dearest son wished to see his parents once more. Now let's go."
Jiraiya nodded, and everyone held onto the Fourth to be teleported away with the Hiraishin.
"Shizune, how is she? Hell, never thought I'd see her without her genjutsu anytime soon.", the toad sennin asked.
"She is stable, Jiraiya-sama, but her blood loss will become a problem. She should regain consciousness soon."
"Damn right I will!", the hoarse voice of Tsunade started.
"Hime, are you alright?", Jiraiya asked his old teammate.
"Could be better to be honest. Where is the...argh!", Tsunade hissed in pain from the stab wound going through her ribcage.
"Tsunade, I am Karin Uzumaki. I'm Naruto's cousin. Please, if you will, bite my wrist here. You will feel better."
Tsunade eyed the young woman wearily, but decided that she trusted her. So she followed through, bit her wrist, and felt the energy coming back into her body.
"Wow, I have no idea what the hell that was, but I feel much better, thanks!", Tsunade said, standing up on her feet again.
She wanted to help Naruto, shocked to see he already released eight tails against his Akatsuki opponent.
"Naruto!", Tsunade yelled, running towards the two, dodging any stray attacks from the massive fights going on.
"Hime, wait!", Jiraiya yelled, trying to reach her.
Naruto growled at the lady yelling, but any further reaction was cut short by an intense green glow coming from his chest.
The Godaime quickly realized that it was her necklace, which Naruto still kept. It released green energy and wrapped itself around Naruto, who struggled and yelled against it.
"The necklace! It's... sealing away the Kyuubi's chakra!"
Indeed, with the yelling from the busty woman and the power of the necklace once again the normal Naruto stood in front of her. Before she or he could process anything, she heard the familiar jutsu from the Tendo.
"Baa-chan!", Naruto yelled, protecting the Godaime with a wall of wood.
When Tsunade saw him looking down at her, standing straight with broad shoulders, she realized just how much he grew up. How much he resembled Hashirama, Minato, heck even Jiraiya. She felt so small, knowing that even with his age he already outclassed her by a large margin.
"Baa-chan...no, Tsunade-chan. Gosh, that sounds unusual, doesn't it? I love you too. I will defeat Pain, for you, us, and everyone."
The proclamation and the ironic gesture of him kissing her forehead, similar to how she did when he convinced her to become Hokage, left her blushing and her heart beating.
Naruto threw away a kunai, embraced her tightly, and used the Hiraishin to move her away.
"Go around and heal the others in need, the Akatsuki are ridiculously strong. I'll take care of Pain."
Before she could even argue with the sentence, very much sounding like an order, he ran of to the Deva Path.
"You won't take that honour by yourself, Uzumaki.", Danzo sneered, running alongside with him. A large blast of wind shot towards the Tendo, who countered it with his signature Shinra Tensei.
"Rasengan!", Naruto shouted, only to see the Deva Path stepping out of the way to punch him into the side.
Before Naruto could stand up again, he was intercepted by a digusting man, ridiculous amounts of hair flowing out of his mouth with masks attached to it.
"Die, Kyuubi brat!", Kakuzu said, charging a fire, lightning and wind blast from different masks, only to be interrupted by an explosion at his back.
"Argh, screw you Deidara!", he yelled at the man who stood in front of Naruto protectively.
"Naruto, hurry! You have to beat Pain quickly!"
Naruto ran offy and Deidara had a solemn look on his face when he realized there were no bombs left anymore for him to throw. The explosion of his clay bird would be neither strong nor big enough to kill the Taki missing nin.
"Oh no you won't!" Kakuzu shouted, only to be lifted into the air so his enormous attack went straight over the head of Naruto and exploded in front of him so he flew away. Deidara, now on his clay bird, ascended with the Taki mercenary in front of him.
"Desert Hunt.", the former Akatsuki spoke through the communication seal which was still attached to Naruto, Kankuro and Karin "this is my last mission. I.. I want to thank you for the strange yet wonderful friendship you offered me. I have found a purpose beyond just myself and my art, and it made me really happy. Naruto, whatever you might think, all these people here are fighting not just for each other, but for you! You were never alone Naruto, and you will never be."
Scrambling up to his feet, Naruto yelled: "What? Deidara, come back!"
The blonde coughed up blood from the hair that was piercing his body.
"Let me go, Deidara!"
"Too late, Kakuzu. Farewell my friends! Always remember that art is an explosion dattebayo!", Deidara said, mimicking Naruto's verbal tick for the first time. With his incredible speed, Deidara already reached a point were his breathing got hard, to keep everyone out of the enormous radius.
"Bokuton: C0!"
"No, come back!", Naruto yelled.
"Deidara!", Kankuro and Karin yelled out.
The explosion from Deidara, who by now transformed into a black orb, blinded everyone. It looked sickeningly beautiful...actually, like a piece of art indeed.
Naruto, disbelievingly, fell to his knees, tears pooling in his blue orbs. His vision was blurry, and he was so caught up in his world, that he hadn't noticed the Tendo running up to him with a chakra rod.
Danzo intercepted him, took the stab move by himself, and coughed up blood.
"Uzumaki, don't fall into weakness when it's the most dangerous time to do. You have the strength to redeem this village, I can see that now. You have to succeed where others failrd, and you will!"
"D-danzo?"
Danzo, who still had a final sealing technique up his sleeve, was marked with black signs running all over his body, pulling Pain into him.
'I won't die a monster!'
Danzo yelled as he tried to seal the Deva Path away, but to no avail. He was able to escape, and Danzo's body evaporated into nothingness.
"How unfortunate, Naruto. You could've saved him.", Pain said before he heard a sound behind him.
He turned around and saw Naruto, delivering a punch to his jaw. The Deva path was sent flying, but turned onto in the air and landed on his feet.
"Dad!", Naruto yelled. Minato immediately stood next to him.
The Jinchuuriki held a kunai in his hand, one that Minato knew all to well. He couldn't help but smile. It was thrown towards Pain, when Naruto and the Yondaime bumped their fists and reappeared in front of Pain. Now, with them throwing kunai all around the Akatsuki, they kicked him around like a rag doll until he was sent flying into the distance.
Naruto, not giving up his advantage, immediately ran after Pain, a small Rasenshuriken gathering in his hand.
When the young man thrusted his attack into the Akatsuki's stomach, Minato's hand and another hand which belonged to Kushina, where put over his own.
He looked around to see the proud faces of his parents. "Mom, Dad."
"Do it, Naruto."
"Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!"
The orb expanded to double its size, now red in colour to, and flew away.
Pain was engulfed in the orb of destruction, cut by the wind inside.
"Amazing. A Rasengen with Fuuton?", Minato asked.
"Yeah.", Naruto whispered. When he didn't hear anything anymore, a silence and tranquility which was almost painful, he looked around. Kisame's shark-like body was completely destroyed. Might Guy stood in front of the body, a crestfallen look on his face.
Sasuke kneeled next to the battered body of Itachi, a horrified look on his face. He took the eyes of his brother, closed them and stood up.
Hidan was gone, and Naruto saw that Shikamaru was as well.
"The Nara guy took the immortal into the woods of the Nara clan.", Kushina said, seeing Naruto's gaze wander.
He then saw Kurenai, weeping over the corpse of Asuma, just as Ino and Chouji did.
The rest was exhausted, transforming back to their original form and sitting down on the floor themselves.
"Naruto! I have tracked down Nagato. He is the leader of the Akatsuki, he sent Pain here.", Jiraiya yelled to him.
The Jinchuuriki broke out of his stupor.
"Then quick, show me the way!"
Naruto and Jiraiya ran off into the forest, but not before Naruto, now only in his black shirt, battlepants and two headbands, looked to his right to see all the Konoha shinobi looking into his eyes, shock, relief, happiness and sorrow etched into all of their faces.
He knew a lot of talking would be happening soon, but for now, it wasn't over.
After a few minutes, Jiraiya and Naruto reached a tree.
"He's...here.", the Toad Sage muttered, unsure of his next step.
"Come with me Ero-sennin. Please.", Naruto said, and the Toad Sage nodded.
Breaking into the tree, Naruto saw a redhead, tagged to a weird machine, with the same Rinnegan eyes the Paths of Pain had. Next to him was a pretty woman with blue hair and orange eyes.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Jiraiya-sensei. So you have found me." The deep voice of the man started.
"Nagato. Why? Why all of this needless destruction and murder."
"You, sensei. You envisioned a world in which all people could work together, overcome their past and look towards a brighter future. Unfortunately, without repenting, there can be no peace. Konoha has waged war on all of the little nations, just as the other big five ninja villages did. They have a fine live, while Ame and other places have been torn to shreds. Am I supposed to forget that and move on?"
"No, you will never be able to forget that.", Naruto started, an apologetic look in his eyes.
"Forgetting the horrible things happening to you, that might be the biggest insult to yourself. But can you claim to be that good a person? If you were a Konoha shinobi, and the life of your family and your friends would be under constant threat, wouldn't you want to prevent that from happening?"
Nagato didn't reply, but just listened further.
"I have learned that my way. If I would've been a widow or an orphan because of the Kyuubi attack, I probably wouldn't treat a Jinchuuriki any better myself. I am flawed, because I am human. You cannot expect to be a god and all perfect, because you Nagato are human as well. We always were and always will be imperfect. You come here to kill the Konoha shinobi, and someone will survive and take revenge on you or your family or your friends. You cannot stop a cycle of hatred by gaslighting it even more!"
Naruto cried a bit, and Jiraiya placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I will never forget what you've done, Nagato. To me, to my friends, my family...my home.
But, and I can say that with certainty: I forgive you! I forgive you, because I want to live in peace. I do not hate you, I do not hate Akatsuki, I do not hate Amegakure. I forgive you, all of you! True peace CAN be achieved, and I will prove it to you", Naruto yelled into the Rinnegan eyes of Nagato, which widened ever so slightly.
Nagato closed his eyes for a few seconds to think, and nodded.
"You forgive me, even though I wanted to kill you and your partners."
"Yes.", Naruto said, with resolve in his eyes.
"I see. Konan, I..I suppose that young man has a point."
"Nagato, what do you mean?", the woman named Konan asked.
"I will put my trust in you, Uzumaki Naruto.", the Rinnegan user said, and clasped his hands together.
"Gedou: Rinne Tensei no Jutsu!", he said.
"Nagato, what are you...?", Konan asked
She knew the look of determination from Nagato, and that his mind could not be changed anymore.
"What is he doing?", Naruto asked the sad woman.
"Nagato's eyes...the Rinnegan...govern the paths between life and death. His abilities allow him to defy the rules that apply to mortals. He..", she sobbed, and didn't say anything anymore.
Nagato's hair started becoming white, his skin became wrinkly and he looked weaker by the second.
And then, Nagato's eyes became lifeless, and his arms dropped down.
Konan just broke into uncontrollabe sobs, but felt the strong arms of the Uzumaki wrap around her.
"Don't cry, Konan. Even with everything Nagato has done, he died with good in his heart. That is all that matters."
"Naruto-san..we killed your villagers, destroyed everything. How can you forgive us?"
"I have felt what it's like to resent everybody, and be resented by everybody. Neither feeling is pleasant, and I just realized that. At my lowest point, I could've either slipped completely and fall into darkness, or, like I did, I had the possibility to rise out from it again. To choose not to do that, this is what I truly wanted."
He pulled back to look at Konan, blue eyes meeting teary orange ones.
"Konan, come with us. Nagato died, the Akatsuki are defeated. I do not wish for you to be alone and resent us as well Please, join us."
She widened her eyes and sucked in a breath.
"Naruto-san, I couldn't..."
"I insist. Please Konan. You shouldn't be alone."
She contemplated, but nodded while rubbing her eyes.
"You are a strange one, Naruto-san."
"Just Naruto please."
Jiraiya, who had been silent all the time, smiled proudly. To let the next generation of shinobi take over the world and make peace with each other, that was one of the goals he had. When he saw how deternined Naruto was, how he made friends even with Nagato and Konan, he knew that his time to preach was over.
When Konans eyes fell on him, she looked down, deeply ashamed of herself.
"Sensei, I.."
"It's ok, Konan. You heard Naruto, didn't you? There is no point in resenting each other, we will achieve nothing of it."
She just nodded, not able to meet his eyes yet.
"Yeah, you're right, Ero-sennin.", Naruto said, to which Konan had to giggle a bit. She admitted that the nickname was very fitting.
Now peace finally claiming him, the Jinchuuriki collapsed only to be caught by Jiraiya in a piggyback ride.
"Let's get you back to Konoha."
"Yes, let's.", Naruto sighed with a tranquil voice, a satisfied smile and half lidded eyes plastered in his face.
"Konan, take Nagato with you in this scroll. We should give him a proper funeral.", Jiraiya told his old apprentice, who nodded and followed them.
The whole walk back, now much slower and more peaceful than before, was soothing everyone's nerves. The previous fight drained hin, in body and soul, Deidara, even Danzo, sacrificed themselves beyond repair to help him achieve his goal. Despite knowing that he will have to come to terms with that, and cherish their sacrifice, it still hit him hard.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when the three emerged from the forest, sunlights bklnding them and loud cheering noises assualting their ears.
Cheering?
Naruto looked up to see the population of Konoha, civilians and shinobi alike, standing in a huge group and cheering to them, no, to him.
"What?", Naruto asked stupified.
"Bro!", the familiar voice of Gamakichi, now standing a few metres tall, yelled from the side.
"I sent Gamakichi to spread news about your win, Naruto. They have been waiting to thank their saviour personally.", Jiraiya told proudly.
"Look, it's Naruto! Our saviour, and he's alive!"
Naruto stood now, the stupified look still on his face. Ashamed that the kids might see it, he hid his headbands in his pockets. The children were first to run towards him, and just bombarded him with questions and praise and anything similar.
The kids were called back by their parents, who quickly went to Naruto and thanked themselves. Every question about the circumstances of his survival were met with either "It's a long story" or "Not now, please", and got understanding looks. Most just wanted to reunite with their families now anyways.
"Ahem.", the voice of Minato said, looking at his son. Kushina smiled at. Like her husband she was very proud of her son when she saw what he accomplished and how strong he became.
Naruto turned to see everyone from the previous fight, even Shikamaru and Asuma again, standing in front of him now. Kurenai was tightly hugging the revived Asuma, while Shikamaru stood with his team.
"Here you are, you fucking idiot! I knew letting my brothers go into Konoha alone wouldn't be enough to keep your ass save!", a loudmouthed voice yelled out, which immediately made Shikamaru sigh 'troublesome'.
Temari hugged Shikamaru very tightly, and also went to her brothers..The rest just stared at Naruto, who looked at the floor uncomfortably.
Tsunade was the first to step forward, pulling Naruto face into her soft bosom and leaking tears.
"Naruto, you...you made it. I'm so proud of you!", she sobbed, feeling Naruto wrap her arms around her back.
"Thank you, Tsunade-chan.", he replied with a muffled voice, making her blush and smile down on him. When she released him, the Godaime noticed how she needs to look up to meet his blue eyes.
'God, when did he become so tall?', she thought.
Naruto smiled down to her, but had an unsure look on his face when he saw Team 7 come to him first.
"Naruto, you...how are you alive?", Kakashi asked.
"Hello Kakashi-sensei...it's a long story."
"You owe me an explanation and a very long spar, dobe.", Sasuke said, his expression uncertain.
"Later, teme.", Naruto replied, his small smile alleviating Sasuke's feeling for a bit.
"Naruto!", Sakura finally said, crashing face first into his shoulder and sobbing without a care.
"Hey Sakura-chan, don't cry."
"Hello Naruto-san, we haven't met yet. My name is Sai, i have filled your spot in Team 7 during your absence.", the pale boy next to Kakashi said.
"Hello Sai, nice to meet you."
"N-naruto-kun.", Hinata stammered, looking at him with a huge smile.
"Explain yourself, now!", Kiba screamed at him, although his tone was very friendly.
"Let's sit down first and make a fire, it's getting late already. We can talk then.", Naruto said, and everyone nodded. For now, the fighting was over.