Chapter Thirty-One - Resurrection
"I won't kill you."
This time Aiko's jaw really did fall slack.
"You're lying!" she shouted, her eyes darting around as if she was searching for something within the inner depths of her mind. "You're evil. You know of nothing but destruction, you can do nothing but lie!"
Aiko's features scrunched up, thinking of all the lies - from supposedly wishing her luck in battle, being concerned after she disappeared after the invasion, to… ramen? To be fair, he really did seem to like ramen (of all the things), and no one had jumped out to try and kill them so far...
"I'll break the curse," Naruto vowed, his book hovering over his heart. "If there's such a thing, I'll find it. I won't give up!"
Was it an act? Was the fox deceiving them yet again? Aiko couldn't quite bring herself to believe it as she stared into those unwavering azure blue orbs.
"I'll become Hokage, and I'll make sure there's peace for Amagakure too!"
Peace for Amegakure… just like she had vowed to do herself so long ago. Just as her father had vowed before her. She had given up on her dream, yet here was a boy who was asking for her to believe in him. Promising that he would not follow in her footsteps. Aiko's blue orbs drifted to where Deidara's body lay bound, wondering if her father had the strength of will to do as the boy promised, setting aside his pain to walk such a path.
Clearly, she did not.
"I couldn't believe in what Jiraiya believed, or the man himself…" Nagato pondered aloud, causing Aiko to be drawn from her inner thoughts and set her eyes upon him, "but you chose a different path. In you… I can see a different future. I will believe in you, Uzumaki Naruto."
"I…" Aiko spoke, all eyes resting on her, watching with interest as her eyes brushed the floor before settling on Naruto, her gaze no longer harbouring her inner turmoil. "Do you really… like ramen?"
"Eh?" Naruto frowned, his head tilted to the side as he sheepishly rubbed at his neck. "Well, yeah! I don't see how that's relevant or anything, but I'd eat it every day if Iru-" Naruto paused, raw pain filling his orbs before he took a deep breath and carried on, "if Iruka-sensei let me."
Aiko closed her eyes as she looked up to the sky. She had caused his pain, and now he was letting her walk away. All for the sake of peace.
"Gedo - Rinne Tensei no Jutsu."
Aiko's head whipped downward to stare at her oji-san. He was already so spent, so tired and worn, and when her okaa-san called out his name, she knew that he wouldn't survive if he went through with this.
"Oji-san, no - you can't leave me!" Aiko demanded, relying on her one good leg to move forward and grasp him by his hollow cheeks. "I- I promised myself I wouldn't lose anyone else! I promised I'd be strong enough to protect you!"
"There is no need to protect me, Aiko. This is my choice. One that I had once decided to give up on long ago," her oji-san smiled, affectionately looking upon the now grown woman that stood before him. "Perhaps with this… you too will find peace, my precious child."
Aiko pressed her forehead against his own, tears streaming down her cheeks and dripping from her chin as he completed his jutsu.
"I love you, tou-san," she whispered, causing Nagato to feel his own tears join hers as the paper constructed tree that was their base scattered into the wind.
Throughout his life, he had been called a Kage, a Sage, and a Kami, but nothing compared to the young woman standing before him who declared him her father. Hopefully, Yahiko wouldn't pout too much about it when he reunited with his old friend. In fact… Yahiko didn't seem to be pouting at all.
"You did right by her. Thank you… Tiny."
Ok, so maybe he was pouting, but only a little.
Naruto looked on solemnly, watching as mother and daughter silently mourned Nagato, the younger leaning down to plant a kiss to his forehead. Feeling as though he was intruding on a private moment, he looked away, his gaze resting on a cocooned form that Aiko had been looking at during his exchange with Akatsuki's leader. She seemed… sad when she'd looked at it. Perhaps this was a fallen comrade of theirs? One they had lost in the invasion of Konohagakure? But if that was so… why hadn't they been resurrected, along with the others?
Naruto reached for the sage chakra he had remaining within his body, sensing a dull, yet rapid flair of chakra from within. His eyes widened, drawing a kunai from his pouch and slitting the paper cocoon open, eyebrows furrowing as one of Pain's chakra receivers fell to the ground with a clink.
"Naruto! Get away from there!"
"Eh?"
Naruto titled his head and squinted his eyes, looking towards Konan who had shouted the warning. A fraction of a second later, his instincts began screaming at him, warning him of the shadowed figure rising up behind him, with two ominous red glints for eyes… that which was promptly tackled by a kunoichi with lavender hair that ended in orange tips.
"DIE!" she commanded the wannabe zombie, a kunai pressed to his neck, her actions driven by the promise that she would not make the same mistake and put anyone at risk due to hesitation.
Deidara screeched, eyes widening, drawing Aiko's attention to the white sclera standing in stark contrast to two warm pools of blue. She reached towards them tentatively, soft fingertips brushing against the skin around Deidara's eyes before pinching outward, forcing them open.
"Your eyes," she murmured softly, gaze fixated.
"They're pretty, un, but I know where you could find a pair far more useful."
Despite being dead for who knows how long, Deidara hadn't come close to feeling as if he were in the presence of the Shinigami. Until now that is. Aiko's blue eyes glinted dangerously at the reminder of his death, before softening as she moved forward to press her forehead against his.
"They're perfect."
Deidara's cheeks tinted pink, his eyes flicking to the side to escape her intense gaze before resting on their lingering audience.
"What the hell are you looking at, un?" Deidara burst out, a strong wind backing his words as his head doubled in size.
Anko made a dead-pan expression, her hair ruffled from the outburst directed towards the Nine Tailed Jinchuriki.
"Calm down, Dei. He's not our enemy."
"Not our enemy? He and his Sensei BLEW MY ARM OFF!"
"You killed Gaara!" Naruto shot back, teeth gritted.
"Your teammate killed ME!"
"You're alive now, aren't you?" Naruto countered, arms crossed.
"And so's Gaara!" Aiko reminded them.
"Enough!" Konan shouted, looking between the three squabbling children with distaste. "This is neither the time nor the place."
Muttered apologies followed, Konan opting to ignore the flick of Deidara's fingers that launched a tiny wad of clay across the room, that which was intercepted and smouldered in Aiko's palm as she glared at him. Naruto flashed a grin in his direction before turning to Konan.
"So, what are you going to do now? I don't want to think you'd just go back to Akatsuki..."
Aiko fixed her gaze onto her mother, just as curious to her answer as Naruto was.
"We're finished with Akatsuki. Both Yahiko and Nagato's dream has been entrusted to you, Naruto, and Amegakure will help you make that dream come true."
"Looks like we'll be working together in the future, eh broth-breath?" Aiko grinned, folding her arms over her chest as Naruto beamed back.
"The name of Naruto, the guts to never give up," Naruto began, looking between the two Amegakure shinobi, "and pain. That's what my master and fellow pupil have given to me, to carry on their will!"
Konan considered Naruto's proclamation, delivered with a steeled determination, before her hand lifted to craft a bouquet of paper flowers.
"This time, it is my dream for you that these will be the flowers of hope that will never die."
Aiko had never been more relieved to hear the continuous downpour of Amegakure. Of home. Looking up to the sky, she allowed the raindrops to wash over her face, only to have her attention drawn by the sound of her name.
"Aiko!" Haku called, closing the distance between them with a shushin.
"Haku!" Aiko returned, leaping forward to envelop him in a hug. "I'm so sorry. I've been such an idiot. I don't know what I was thinking… joining Madara."
Aiko clenched her teeth. Every moment she was with him, she had told herself that she had been using him. What a joke. She may as well have been one of Sasori's puppets. Every move she had made had been for Madara's benefit, and his alone. He didn't care whether her precious people lived or died. They were nothing but his tools, ready to be discarded once they had served their purpose. Aiko was almost shaking with the anger she felt towards that man, her killing intent threatening to break beyond her control.
"We've all fallen victim to his manipulations," Konan declared, placing a comforting hand upon her daughter's shoulder, prompting her to release her embrace, "but now we must make preparations. We can not ignore the fact that Madara aligned himself with us for a reason. There is no doubt that he will seek us out eventually to fulfil his intentions."
"Just let him try," Aiko proclaimed darkly, her eyes shadowed. "I'll end him with my Raijin no Kirie."
"You will do no such thing," Konan snapped. "Uchiha Madara is not your responsibility."
"You can't just think that after all the pain he's caused us that I can sit back and watch as you risk your life to defeat him! We're doing this together, kaa-san."
"It's not a matter up for discussion," Konan sighed, amber eyes softening as her daughter bristled with anger. "When Akatsuki was founded, Yahiko's intention was to safeguard the children of Amegakure's future, making sure that they never suffered as we did. I lost sight of that vision, putting my own child at risk. Perhaps now, I can begin to rectify my mistakes, and honour his memory."
"Kaa-san," Aiko murmured, eyes glistening.
"Your kaa-san is a strong and capable kunoichi, Aiko," Haku reassured her, placing a hand upon her shoulder, "and though you may not be able to enter battle at her side, there is much you can do to give her the advantage."
"Don't forget me, un," Deidara cut in, sliding in between the two and wrapping his arm around Aiko's shoulder to deliver her a boyish smirk. "I'll make sure your kaa-san has enough explosives to make her a true artist."
Aiko lifted her lips to deliver him a small smile before her blue eyes stared into the distance, her only response to hum in acknowledgement to the bomber's words.
"What kind of response is that, un?" Deidara bellowed, punching the paper ninjutsu specialist in the arm before leaning forward to appreciate her scowl. "You have no appreciation for the artistic justice that is the fleeting existence of the cursed name of Uchiha at the hands of my art."
Haku and Aiko exchanged a look. Deidara's eyes narrowed.
"What? What is it, un?"
"Nothing," Aiko claimed, blank-faced. "Absolutely nothing."
Deidara's eyes narrowed further.
"What aren't you telling me?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she reiterated in perfect monotone.
"Tell me."
"Tell you what?"
"Tell me, un."
"Hm, did you say something?"
"Perhaps we should leave them to it," the Yuki boy suggested softly, brown eyes sparkling with amusement as the two former Akatsuki members ended up in a heap on the ground, Deidara reiterating his demands as he pinned down her flailing limbs, one having escaped to stretch his face and make a pig-like snout out of his nose.
"That may be for the best," Konan agreed, an audible sign escaping her person as she watched a clay spider escape from Deidara's sleeves, heading for her face as he threatened to remove her eyebrows. "They'll tire themselves out soon enough."
The lavender haired woman turned to leave, the most responsible of the youth following in her wake. The light in her child may have returned, but there was no doubt in the kunoichi's mind that Aiko would be content with sitting on the sidelines. She had seen it in her depthful gaze, the cogs in her mind turning as she began to plot and counter. Aiko had a plan, of that she was sure, but whatever that plan may be Konan had her own goals.
There was a new dawn upon the horizon and no matter what, her daughter was going to live to see the sun rise on a new day.
A/N: Part II Complete! Many thanks for your continued support and I hope you have enjoyed it so far. Such as with Part I, I'm going to have a break for writing before returning for Part III, which I am pleased to announce will be called 'Akatsuki: A New Dawn'. Any guesses as to what will happen? The title is a slight hint, but I think it would be interesting to see everyone's guesses. I don't really have a good estimate for when updates will start again - the problem isn't so much the plot to the finale (which is all road-mapped), but the huge amount of complex fight scenes (which no fanfiction writer enjoys writing). Wish me luck, my lovelies and may the winds of inspiration blow my way!