Itachi tossed Killer Bee's body onto the floor and stood on the finger that matched his ring. Everyone else got into position. The only remaining Akatsuki members were Itachi, Kisame, Pain, Tobi, and Zetsu.
"Our goal is nearly accomplished, after this the only Jinchuriki left is somewhere in the Leaf."-Pain.
Pain noticed Itachi seemed somewhere else and he asked him, "Is something on your mind Itachi?"-Pain. "Yes, something that I've been wondering is how do we know that there is Jinchuriki in the Leaf right now? It makes sense that the beast would have manifested by now, but the only ninja who was able to seal the kyuubi is dead."-Itachi.
"This is true Itachi, but you remember the child Menma correct?"-Pain. Itachi nodded and stated, "I met him a year ago while he was training with Jiraiya. And at that time he somehow had a sharingan and wasn't a Jinchuriki."-Itachi.
Pain replied, "Correct, Menma is a Uzumaki, which is why he was able to survive losing his Jinchuriki. But his family tree and connections make him dangerous. His father was the one who sealed away the Kyuubi, his mother was the previous Jinchuriki, and his master is a sealing master who was the previous sensei of his father. It's very likely that he has been taught many Uzumaki sealing techniques along with how to use the sharingan genjutsu. So he has the greatest chance of being the Jinchuriki, especially because of how much his village despises the beast."-Pain.
Itachi accepted his analogy and they proceeded with the ritual. Pain was the first start extracting Bee's chakra and everyone else soon followed.
Everyone was about to get into their own personal meditative state knowing that this would take at least 5 days. But before they could they all heard a puff and they noticed that the place that Bee was laying at now had an octopus tentacle in its place.
Both Tobi and Zetsu laughed and Tobi exclaimed, "Hahaha! An octopus leg!"-Tobi. The black side of Zetsu said, "Shut up."
Pain undid his hand sign and said, "Well this is unexpected." Pain looked towards the Akatsuki's last Bijuu capture team and said, "I'm surprised that Bee was able to trick you two. But nonetheless you must try to capture him again."-Pain. They both nodded and left the hideout.
Kisame had eyes leaking with suspicion that were looking directly at Itachi until they were outside. Itachi looked up at the sky and announced, "We should find somewhere to sleep for now."-Itachi. "Wait"-Kisame.
Itachi turned around and Kisame stated, "First you leave me and Kakazu and Hidan suddenly die. And when we met Killer Bee it almost seemed like he was expecting us. And lastly there's no way you wouldn't have been able to see through that trick he pulled. Just what is this game you're playing?"-Kisame.
Itachi sighed and responded, "I'm going to exterminate the remaining members of the Akatsuki."-Itachi.
Menma
Menma formed a jacket around himself and covered himself with the dogs fur as he noticed the falling snow. Menma looked over the dogs head and saw Minako's house in the distance.
Menma rubbed the wound on his leg placed a hand on the dogs head. He rubbed it and said, "Thank you." Before jumping off of it and dispelling it.
He ran towards the house and noticed that the door was destroyed. Once he reached the door he ran straight in and looked around. 'Am I already too late.'-Menma.
He noticed Mina and Suigetsu unconscious on the ground and yelled out, "Hello?!? IS ANYONE THERE?!?! Nozomi?!? Toshiro?... Minako..."
Menma fell to the ground and felt defeated. He heard footsteps at the backdoor and aimed his gun at it. He heard Nozomi's voice and quickly ran towards the door to open it.
Menma saw Nozomi with Toshiro's unconscious body behind her and he dragged him inside.
He sat him on a chair and kneeled next to Nozomi and asked, "Do you know where Minako is?"-Menma. Nozomi shook her head and replied, "No, all I heard them say was that they would take her to a royal army."-Nozomi.
Menma stood up and was about to leave but Nozomi started crying and said, "What's going on? I want my mom back..."-Nozomi.
Menma realized how insensitive he was being and put a hand on Nozomi's shoulder. He made a forced foxy grin and tried to give her a thumbs up.
Just the action of lifting his arm felt like he was fighting against an inevitable fate. "Nozomi, I'll bring your mom back... I pro-... prom-... promise."-Menma.
Nozomi tried to believe in Menma but even she could tell he wasn't confident in himself. Nozomi wiped away her tears and stated, "You've been acting different ever since you've met that old man."-Nozomi.
Menma gasped and Nozomi continued, "I've seen the man before. He came to me once, he told me that I was the key to something."-Nozomi.
Menma kneeled down next to her and replied, "I have to go now. But don't listen to anything that guy says, there's something wrong with him."-Menma. Nozomi nodded and Menma teleported away.
Menma looked around and took a deep breath. He channeled as much chakra as he could muster and made 8,000 shadow clones. They all nodded and started searching.
Menma manifested a Truth Seeking Orb and turned it into a platform to sit. He flew high up in the air and waited.
Itachi And Kisame
Both Itachi and Kisame were panting and Kisame started laughing. "Just wanted to make sure you didn't go soft."-Kisame. Kisame walked up to Itachi and offered him a hand.
Itachi accepted it and Kisame stated, "It's weird to know that you were a spy this entire time. But if you weren't here I would most likely leave the Akatsuki anyway... but I'm wondering, just when did you decide you stop spying on us?"-Kisame.
"It happened after I used Tsukiyomi on Menma. While I was talking to him he revealed to me that Sasuke was dead. My bargain with the 3rd Hokage was that I would spy on the Akatsuki as long as Sasuke was alive. But after he died I had no more reason to spy on them, so I decided I would exterminate the Akatsuki."-Itachi.
"Well that makes sense, so that means you lied about Menma not being the Jinchuriki right?"-Kisame. Itachi shook his head and replied, "No, I wasn't lying when I said Menma didn't have the 9 tails."-Itachi.
Kisame grunted and stated, it's strange to think that someone could survive something like losing a tailed beast, but that doesn't matter right now. Where are we going?"-Kisame.
"Let's go to the Sound village. We should meet Menma."-Itachi.
Sound Village
Menma sat on his chair biting his nails for what felt like days until it was nighttime. Eventually one of his clones puffed and he gained the memories he needed. He took back his chakra by dispelling the rest of the clones and stood up.
Menma teleported to the place he needed to and he looked at the moon seal on his right hand, and unwillingly thought back to what Adonai said, "Listen to whatever she tells you."-Adonai.
Menma shook the thought and started walking. Menma looked around and noticed that this was some high level prison in some royal kingdom in the land of Hot Water. He looked outside of the window and saw that he was at least 20 stories up in the air.
Menma unconsciously activated his Gods Determination power and started walking towards Minako's chakra signature. But something was a little different this time, his mind was clouded with one goal and his dark determination was represented by both the God Seal and a fire in his eyes.
Menma turned a corner and a guard saw him. "Hey, you can't be in"- before the guard could finish his sentence Menma placed his right hand on his face and turned him into dust.
On his way to Minako's cell he met multiple guards, and treated them the same way he did the first guard and dusted them.
When he passed by a cell someone called from inside and asked, "Hey you think you can"- but before he could finish his sentence he was interrupted by Menma dusting him.
Menma came face to face with Minako's cell and walked through it. His seal faded back into his arm and his dark determination faded. He ran over to Minako who was looking outside the window, at the moonlit sky.
Minako turned around and looked at Menma. She wore a fancy white kimono and a silver necklace matched with an opal gemstone pendant around her neck. "Menma, what are you doing here?"-Minako. Menma walked up to her and said, "I'm gonna get you out of here obviously!"-Menma.
Minako looked down and stated, "Menma... I'm not leaving."-Minako. Menma's eyes widened and he grabbed her shoulders, "Minako... th- this is no time for jokes, of course you are! They'll kill you!"-Menma.
Minako took a deep breath and looked at the moon. "Menma, remember what I told you after I finished telling you about my past?"-Minako.
Menma nodded and thought back to what she said, "I don't wish to die, but I believe that this is my inevitable fate."-Minako.
Minako smiled and told him, "Well this is that moment, after this I'll finally be cleansed."-Minako. Menma shook his head and he felt some tears in his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about Minako?!? What about all of us?!? Suigetsu, Mina, your own daughter Nozomi, and me..."-Menma.
Minako stood up and cupped Menma's face, "Menma, I want you to wipe my daughters memories of me, she can't bear the pain of me dying, but you can."-Minako.
Menma's eyes widened to the point where he thought they would fall right out and he backed up. "Minako... Minako..." tears started pouring rapidly from his face and he grabbed his head, "What the hell are you saying Minako?!?! Did they drug you?!?! I just... I just don't understand..."-Menma.
Minako looked at him and shared some of his sadness. Suddenly she spoke and stated, "I haven't told you my entire past Menma."-Minako.
Minako walked over to Menma and brought him to her bed, she continued, "Before I was adopted by the royal family of this place, I had parents that died of a mysterious illness, it was like their body slowly shattered like glass. They told me they were going back to where they came from and disappeared in a golden ray of light." Minako held the Opal gem around her neck. "Before they left they passed down this opal gem to me, they told me it was something that would let me meet my guardian angel, and that they would protect me through all hardships in the future... for the longest time I didn't believe that this was true, because my life has been full of hardships and no one ever came to help."-Minako.
Minako smiled and looked at Menma, "But then I met you, and for the past month that I've known you so many wonderful things have happened. I don't haven't had to worry about Hagetaka anymore, and I don't have anymore money problems for the homeless shelter anymore... you've truly been a blessing."-Minako.
Menma was touched by the words and Minako sighed. "I was planning on passing down this gemstone to Nozomi...But unfortunately I won't be able to. Because soon after meeting you an old man approached me and told me I would have to go back home."-Minako.
Menma glared at the ground and asked, "Why the hell should you listen to that guy, he's crazy! I talked to him before! Just because you can go home doesn't mean you have to! This is your home! What about all of us?!?"-Menma.
Minako sighed a sigh of sorrow and responded, "You're right Menma, but I-UGHH!" Minako was cut off when a piece of her leg shattered off.
Menma panicked and tried to heal the wound with his sun seal but it didn't heal. Minako continued and said, "If I could stay I would, but I can't Menma. I'm an angel, and like my parents I can't stay in this place for too long. If I stay a day longer I'll fade away and will never be able to meet you again. So I have to willingly let the light take me so I'm saved."-Minako.
Menma finally understood the situation. He didn't know what an angel was, but he didn't care. All that mattered right now was that she was right about an inevitable fate. He realized he wouldn't be able to stop her, and that he would only harm her by doing so.
He hugged her and grasped on the her tightly. His tears stained her white kimono and he told her, "I don't want you to leave Minako, I don't wanna lose another person close to me."-Menma.
Minako rubbed him right above the back of his neck to comfort him, she recently found out that this spot was basically like rubbing the back of a dogs ear for him.
She separated herself from him and told him, "Tell me something you love about me."-Minako. Menma was surprised by the question and did not respond right away. Minako decided to go first and said, "Ok I'll go first. Hmmm... I love how sudden your emotions can change, like when you go being serious to being embarrassed, I find it so cute."-Minako.
Menma got out of his shock and wiped away his tears. He smiled and responded, "I love how easily you get lost when picking apples."-Menma. Minako passed for a second then responded, "I love that your favorite food is ramen!"-Minako.
"I love that you still have sloppy handwriting."-Menma. "I love your long eyelashes."-Minako. "I love how you always end up mixing colors and whites when washing clothes."-Menma. "I love how soft your hands are when I hold them."-Minako. "I love how clumsy you are."-Menma.
Minako pouted and stated, "I feel like I'm just getting insulted."-Minako. Menma maintained his smile and replied, "But they're all things I genuinely love about you."-Menma.
Minako gained a heart warming smile that felt like it could light up the sky. She replied, "I love how you always drink my tea like it's the best thing in the world, even though you don't like tea at all."-Minako.
Menma was surprised she noticed but he maintained his smile. "I love how easily scared you can be."-Menma. "I love that you try to hold back your tears while maintaining that smile, even though your pain is only swelling up."-Minako.
Menma lost his smile and made eye contact with her again. He simply said, "Minako." Minako looked outside the window and stated, "My life was good... but this is all gonna end soon."-Minako.
Another piece of Minako fell off and Menma started to get emotional again. Minako asked him, "Menma, can you hold me close again please?"-Minako.
Menma did what she asked without hesitation and hugged her tightly. She returned the hug and now it was her turn to start crying. "I have to leave now."-Minako.
Menma's eyes widened and Minako backed up towards her open window. "I'm so happy!"-Minako. "STOP IT!"-Menma. Minako's legs started to shatter and a golden light enveloped her body.
"I'm truly glad that I met you!"-Minako. "STOP! DON'T SAY IT!"-Menma shouted as tears poured out of his eyes. "Thank you very much!" Minako exclaimed while also having tears. Minako's body started floating out of the window and Menma tried to grab her hand, but it just shattered on impact.
"Just like how my parents gave this opal pendant to me, I want you to pass it on to Nozomi!" Minako stated. Menma tried running towards her and yelled, "HANG ON! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"
Minako's body was finally fully enveloped by the light and her entire body shattered, only leaving behind the pendant which started falling. "MINAKOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" Menma shouted as he jumped out of the window.
He grabbed the pendant out of the air and held it towards his heart as he fell all the way down. But it didn't matter to him. Even if he truly wanted to die such a fall could only knock him out.
As he was falling he felt like part of the golden light enveloped himself and he felt a surge. Menma eventually hit the ground, and when he did he remained still.
Menma could tell that all of the bones in his legs were broken and that his legs were bleeding nonstop. He didn't bother to do anything about it but he didn't have to. Because after one minute his leg was enveloped in light and it was healed.
He sat up and looked at his leg, and without his consent his mouth started moving and they spoke the words, "An Angel's blessing."-Menma. Menma smiled and said to himself, "Thank you, Minako."-Menma.
Time passed as he sat there and mourned while gazing up at the moon. Eventually the sun came out and he stood up. He sighed and started walking back home. 'He already knew what was going to happen... I don't wanna talk to him anymore. Nothing good has ever happened because of him... well I guess that's not all true, he did save my life... whatever, I don't have time to think about this right now." Menma thought.
20 Minutes Later
Menma arrived on the same block as Minako's... Minako's home. Menma's heart started racing and he looked down at the necklace in his hand. 'I have to erase Nozomi's memory?? What the hell! I'm just supposed to pretend Minako never existed?!?'-Menma.
Menma's thoughts inevitably started drifting to what Adonai told him. "Listen to everything she tells you to do." Menma's gritted his teeth and thought, 'Damn you Adonai.'-Menma.
Menma had so much pent up stress in him that he had to let out. He looked up at the sky. Even the clouds looked like him. "ADONAIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!" Menma yelled up at the sky.
Minako's House
Suigetsu woke up to hear yelling outside. He rubbed his head and asked, "Did Menma come back yet?" Mina woke up next and replied, "I don't know, he isn't back yet?"
Before they could ask anymore questions Menma walked through the front door with his hair covering his eyes.
Nozomi walked into the front room and they all saw him without Minako. Nozomi was the first to ask, "Where is my mom?"-Nozomi.
Menma remained silent and Suigetsu and Mina gave him the same questioning look. Toshiro peeked around the corner and walked up to the rest of the group.
Menma still had his eyes covered and Mina asked, "Menma, why aren't you saying anything? Where is Minako?"-Mina. Toshiro was the next to speak and he asked, "Is she"- but before he could finish his sentence Menma finally gave response and looked up at all 4 of them. They all directly into his red EMS and he spoke one word, "Kotoamatsukami."-Menma.
Menma didn't say out loud what his command was, but the action still followed through nonetheless. After a few seconds Suigetsu asked him, "Why were you out so long last night?"
After hearing that Menma felt like part of his soul disappeared. He gave them a sorrowful smile and replied, "I got lost in the forest and found something near a waterfall."
Menma walked up to Nozomi and knelt down in front of her. He pulled out a necklace from his pocket and put it around her neck. He told her, "This is something that will let you meet your guardian angel, and they will guide you through all hardships."-Menma.
Nozomi smiled at him and hugged him, "Thank you Menma!"-Nozomi. Menma leaned his head against hers and told her, "Nozomi, I just want to let you know that for as long as I'm alive I'll always protect you." Menma kissed her on the forehead and stood up.
Before anyone could track his movements he quickly took down all the pictures of Minako and stashed them away. Menma started walking towards his bedroom and took one last glance at all of his friends. 'Never again.' Menma thought as he turned around.
Menma arrived in his room and looked at all of the pictures of Minako. He picked up one of Minako with her husband and daughter. "I'll never forget about Minako."-Menma.
Menma looked at the rising sun and took a deep breath. His shoulders still felt heavy, and he knew the job wasn't over.
He got into the into a familiar position on the bed that he felt like he rehearsed a thousand times and waited. Eventually he saw a figure in the room and he once again saw Adonai.
Neither of them spoke a word for what felt like hours until Menma eventually asked, "Who are you? Because I can clearly tell you're not human, you're probably not even from this world."-Menma.
Adonai sighed and replied, "Even if I told you who I was you wouldn't understand. I haven't spread my influence to this world in any way. In fact, it's because I haven't influenced this world that I'm able to come here in person so frequently."-Adonai.
Menma groaned at his answer and responded, "You keep on telling me all this wise man stuff but I can never understand it, why can't you tell me?"-Menma.
"I can't tell you because that would mean I have spread some form of influence to this world. The only way I would be able to freely do whatever I wanted to do is if I visited something I created and had separated it from everything else, but this is not one of those cases."-Adonai.
Menma gave him an agitated groan in response and said, "Can you quit talking so blandly?!? Damn, just tell me something new for once!"-Menma.
Adonai frowned and said, "You've heard everything I said so far right?"-Adonai. Menma nodded and Adonai followed up with, "So you're are clearly hearing what I'm saying, but you're not listening. I've been telling you new information this entire time."-Adonai.
Menma didn't respond and Adonai stated, "Ok, I'll tell you something to widen your perspective and give you some insight." Menma's interest was peaked and Adonai stated, "Did you ever wonder why Odin hasn't ever come here himself to deal with you? Something like, "well he's clearly more powerful than anyone alive right now, so why doesn't he just come down here and smite me"?"-Adonai.
Menma confirmed, "Yes I've wondered that before." Adonai smirked and replied, "Well Odin is a God, what do you think of when you think of God's?"-Adonai. Menma thought for a second and replied, "I usually think of things like omnipotence, omniscience, unlimited power, being above everyone else, those kinds of things. Why?"-Menma.
"Yes, that's true for some Gods. But I'm going to give you a little lesson about the multiverse. But before I start I want to clarify that there are a near infinite amount of multiverses out there, but we're going to be focusing on ours considering we are one of the big 2." Adonai cleared his throat. "On the lowest level of existence there is paves like this. This is a planet, inside solar system, inside a galaxy, inside a universe. And besides this universe there are infinite others contained inside one place."-Adonai.
"Wait hold up, if it's infinite then how can it be contained in one place?"-Menma. Adonai smiled and replied, "It's best not to ask, but as I was saying. Above the multiverse there is the realm of Gods. And that is where Odin comes from. The fact that he's able to spot out you from the infinite universe's show that he has some small level of omniscience, but he can't know what you're thinking all the time. Now the reason he isn't omnipotent is because he lives with other Gods. When Gods live among each other it's called a polytheism. And polytheism Gods are not omnipotent. They are extremely powerful, but they are not omnipotent. In other words they are killable."-Adonai.
Menma absorbed all the information and asked, "Is there anything above the realm of Gods?"-Menma. "Yes there are a couple more things. But they are irrelevant for now."-Adonai.
Menma learned everything he needed to know and he was about to cancel their session but Adonai spoke, "Menma, I can tell that you hate something about yourself, what is it?"-Adonai.
Menma looked down at the ground and replied, "I hate Kotoamatsukami. I hate the ability for what it made me do..." Adonai walked closer to him and asked, "And what do you plan to do about it?"-Adonai.
Menma looked him dead in the eye and told him, "I don't want this ability anymore. I want to get rid of it!"-Menma.
Adonai knew that this was gonna happen eventually and already came up with what he was going to do. "Menma show me your sharingan."-Adonai.
Menma did what he said but asked, "Why?" Adonai replied, "I'm going to erase your memory of the ability."-Adonai.
1 Hour Later
Menma walked up a dirt hill while reading one of his 4 books and looked around. The view from where he was was nice, but not good enough. He continued to read his book and walked further up the hill.
'This is the perfect seal for what I need!'-Menma thought for closing the book and putting it away.
He continued to walk, and walk. Until eventually he reached the highest peak in the Sound village. He looked at the view and was satisfied. From where he was standing he could perfection.
From where he was he could see a view of the entire village. There was also a large lake that he didn't notice before, and it appeared to be sparkling as it was surrounded by the green fields of grass. The surrounding forests looked plentiful and full of life; the few hills and mountains overshadowing the forest added to the majestic sight before him. Though they were too small for him to pick out individually, the groups of flowers he could see decorated certain parts of the land in the right spots with it's different colors. Menma started working on the shrine he planned for and got to work.
5 Minutes Later
Menma backed away and got a full view of the shrine. The main attraction of the shrine was the carbon copy statue of Minako, but along with that there were chrome and silver pedestals surrounding her that each displayed one of the pictures of her that were in her house.
And the details of the statue included being made out of the purest form of silver. She was dressed with the same white kimono that Menma saw her wearing last, and she had another opal gemstone right below her neck. Her hair was made out of rubies and she had highly detailed eyes. Her sclera was diamonds and her irises were rubies while she had obsidian pupils. She also had pure gold outlines on her outfit that worked as a secondary color.
The final detail on her statue were angelic wings on her back. The way her statue was made almost looked like it was a guardian angel looking over the village. Menma walked to an empty pedestal and placed down one last picture. It was a picture they took at their first dinner. Everyone looked happy.
'I don't know what an angel is, but if I had to imagine one then this is what I would think of.'-Menma thought before placing the protective seal on it. The seal made it so no one would ever be able to touch the statue, neither living or non living objects. If they try to touch it, it would be like touching a wall. Not even an earthquake would affect the seal.
Menma was satisfied with his work and sat next to the statue. Menma heard footsteps walking up to him and he turned around. He saw Itachi and Kisame.
Menma looked a little confused, he was friends with Itachi but Kisame could still be his enemy. Which is why he found it strange that Itachi would approach him with Kisame.
Menma remained silent until Itachi eventually announced, "Don't worry Menma, Kisame is on our side."-Itachi. Menma became much less tense and replied, "Oh, ok." Aling with a sigh of relief.
"So how'd you guys find me? I never told you I would go to the Sound Village."-Menma. "The same way we find all of the Jinchuriki. We have contacts all around the world."-Kisame. Menma accepted the answer and asked, "Well why are you guys here then?"
"I've come to check if you needed help."-Itachi. "With Orochimaru?" Menma asked. Itachi nodded and Mebma continued, "I appreciate the offer but... I want to take care of this myself."-Menma.
"Are you sure?"-Itachi. Menma nodded and stated, "Orochimaru ruined my life, it's only right that I return the favor personally. Besides, I already have my own group helping me."-Menma.
Itachi accepted his answer and turned around. "Pain wants us to hunt down the 8 tails right now. I suggest that after you're done with Orochimaru you should go try to find Killer Bee. But before I leave I want to warn you. Pain will most likely try to hunt you down himself, so be wary."-Itachi.
Menma nodded in confirmation and they all went their separate ways. Menma looked up at the sky and saw that it was noon. 'There's still a lot of time in the day, first I'll go home. But then I'm gonna find out where the Eastern Hideout is.'-Menma.
It's been a long time since I updated and I don't even have an excuse for why. So I'm sorry for that, but now for some self criticism.
A big problem that I think of everytime when I view myself is how I come up with great ideas but I can't seem to put them into words, I should probably try to find someone who can help me with that. But for now I'll talk a little about Minako's death.
I'm not sure what I planned for Minako when I created her, but I'm pretty sure I started thinking about her potential death a couple days after I published her back story, I was stuck on how I would write her death for a while until I decided to take some inspiration from sad animes, ya know. The ones that are always about 9-13 episodes.
I myself can't really feel true emotion when I read something. It has to be in the form of a show or anime for me to really feel anything, which is why I can't comprehend someone getting jumpscared by a horror book. But maybe some of you readers were able to feel something.
Although something else I'm wondering about is how people view the deaths of a character between the author and the reader. I might be overestimating the value of her death since most people probably view her as a support character. But it seemed impactful to me, but maybe that's just because I'm thinking about these characters every minute of the day. If any other authors have similar thoughts please leave a comment on how you guys feel when you write a character's death.
And of course, thank you again for reading my story, and see you in the next chapter.
