Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

CHAPTER 41

The glow of Itachi's towering Susano'o rippled across the decaying walls of the Uchiha Compound, as he and Danzō continued to dodge and weave in a deadly dance fueled with the enmity of stolen lifetimes and identities.

"Impressive as always," Danzo smirked sarcastically, impossibly flickering back into existence yet again. Itachi panted harshly before forcing himself to take deep restorative breaths through his nose the way Sakura-chan had taught him as his body hovered within the protective rib cage of his Susano'o. He squinted down at the glowing orange bones of his chakra hand, opening up the articulated phalanges that had just snatched up and squeezed the life out of the man who was somehow still alive and flashing through hand signs down on the ground.

That was the third time Danzō had reappeared, and Itachi was certain that it was no Genjutsu, no hallucinogenic side effect of his poor health, not some trick of his recently healed eyes. The sight of that disgusting arm had rattled the usually stoic and calculating Uchiha more than he wanted to admit, and he had thought perhaps he was seeing things. He had doubted himself the first time the man had reappeared, when Danzō had hardly made an effort to dodge the shuriken sent flying at him and was hammered by handfuls of them.

When Danzō had suddenly reappeared right next to him, air palm charging towards his face, Itachi had reflexively sliced down through his arm and watched with adrenaline pumping satisfaction as the thing had landed with a loud splat upon the dirt. Experience had taught the prodigy to never relax, and he had not waited to see if the man was actually going to slowly bleed to death, and had instantly turned the sword upwards to flay open Danzō's chest from hip to shoulder.

But confusion and dismay had filled Itachi's mind as the blood pooling around his feet had disappeared. He was left staring at his sword, which had been inconceivably clean and reflecting back the crimson glow of his Mangekyo when he had heard charging footsteps behind him. Vexation had surged through his body, and tossing aside all intentions of fighting subtly to protect his identity, Itachi had exploded into the hellish alter ego of his bone deep rage, the very embodiment of the Uchiha's wrath, come to reap its justice: Susano'o Yūbu no Aragami. The sight of Danzō's blood dripping through his skeletal fingers had been an undeniable proof of death, and yet now here the bastard stood, biting his thumb and slamming his hand into the ground while screaming, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

Glaring down from the heights of his Susano'o, Itachi mentally growled at Danzō's proudly bared arm that still blinked with…wait, only seven Sharingan? He recounted, he was sure there had been more than that originally. As Danzō's Summon, Baku, trumpeted his arrival to the earth, buckling portions of dilapidated buildings with his roar, Itachi's Mangekyo spotted the key to the aspiring dictator's apparent immortality. Three closed eyelids in the wrinkled flesh of the miraculously restored arm.

"Izanagi," Itachi whispered, loathing lacing his hissed realization. He is using a forbidden Clan Technique for his own abominations. How dare he waste the treasure of my people to spread the very bloodlust that I sacrificed my soul to end. The hellish intensity of his outrage burned across his body from the inside of his network all the way down to the tips of his black hair that danced around his clenched jaw. The subconscious burst of infuriated passion manifested upon his Susano'o and spread over the burning skeleton like vines encasing a tree, solidifying its incomplete frame with bulging sinew and flesh that flexed and strained with monstrous tension.

Itachi's moment of comprehension and materialization was cut short when a blast of wind chakra slammed into his back, and even through the protective ribcage of his Susano'o, he grunted with pain at the feeling of being sandblasted with the power of a Suna windstorm. The Baku's hurricane level futon jutsu started to peel the newly formed skin from the Susano'o bones, exposing the peaks of its vertebrae. Itachi's stoic battle expression shattered as he cried out into the deafening wind with the tremendous effort of sustaining the chakra draining entity. He still was not up to full strength, despite the leaps and bounds his health had made under Sakura's intelligent care. In spite of his consuming desire to obliterate Danzō from the face of the Earth, he could feel his control faltering as the ephemeral warrior was dismembered piece by piece.

Danzō watched with a smug twist of his thin lips as Itachi's Susano'o shredded and began to dissipate. "It is useless to oppose me," he gloated, "I am the reformer that will change the ninja world." His elation was short-lived as he watched in guarded appraisal as Itachi's body began to fall to the ground and split into a squawking cluster of crows. The black birds soared into the air, and his spike in confidence spluttered as the small flock was joined by a cacophonous murder of ebony creatures that were rocketing toward the Uchiha Compound from across Konoha.

With a final thrust of desperate fury, Itachi's Susano'o foot of melting flesh that boiled like lava suddenly jutted out and stomped upon the twisted Root Leader, before the entirety of the Uchiha's body joined the black cloud of screeching birds. The swarm of ebony crows descended upon the Baku, ripping hunks of skin from its thrashing form with their razor sharp beaks. Unable to so much as breathe without a feathered raptor tearing at its skin, the creature succumbed to the overwhelming attack of the thousands of crows and dispelled.

The flock of darkness parted, and from the sky a white bird of an unearthly nature plummeted out of the gray clouds. Itachi fell to his knees as he teetered unsteadily and craned his neck, expecting to see Deidara's smirking face leering down. But as it dove to the earth he saw the broad strokes of ink that outlined the massive bird, and on its back the former Root agent of Naruto's team. Sai leapt to the ground, planting his feet firmly in front of Itachi's kneeling form and swiftly unravelling his scroll. His brush flew across the paper before the parchment could even float to the ground.

"Chōjū Giga: Aun no Ken."

Twin imitations of the gods Fūjin and Raijin surged out of the flat paper, lunging towards the once more reincarnated body of Danzō. The man was so stunned by the massive jutsu, that he balked in momentary astonishment. The split second of hesitation was all the enormous chakra gods needed, and each snatched up an arm and leg, ripping a shrieking Danzō to pieces.

"Watch out!" Itachi called to Sai from his knees, where he was pushing himself up from the dirt and panting in near exhaustion. "He is using the Sharingan to reverse time—"

The twin gods burst into a shower of ink that rained down on the two shinobi, obliterated by a hail of futon powered Shuriken thrown at hurricane speed. Itachi was barely able to grasp onto Sai's ankle and yank him to the ground as the deadly weapons whizzed by overhead. Swiftly flipping onto his back, Itachi lurched up, his blood shot eyes focusing on Danzō's body as he arched into an inhuman inhalation, attempting to finish them off with a final slicing wind jutsu.

But Itachi was quicker, the weasel that could devour the snake, poison and all.

"Amateratsu!"

Sai scrambled away from the black flames that devoured his former leader, the shredded remains of his scroll floating around him, as he coughed and crawled backwards. Tearing his eyes away from Danzō's melting body, he focused on Itachi, who was now collapsed upon the dirt.

"Let's get out of here," Sai mumbled, but as he grabbed Itachi's arm and slung it across his own shoulders, the man gripped his wrist with surprising strength.

"Not yet," he gasped between deep breaths, "there's still…four eyes…on the arm."

Ignoring the wasted Uchiha's delirious rambling, Sai clambered to his feet holding tightly onto Itachi's arm as he hauled them up, intent on getting him back to Sakura as soon as possible. He could have sworn his ninpo had eliminated Danzō but he knew the man was skilled at Genjutsu, and so rationalized the surprising survival as a trick of the eyes. Sai wasn't complaining about getting to watch the nightmare of his childhood be burned alive instead.

His head down and half dragging Itachi's surprisingly heavy body through the debris of the Compound toward the massive gates, Sai came up short when a shadow fell across his path. Squinting up through sweat soaked bangs, his heart stopped in his chest.

"Impossible…"

Sai's horrified whisper was dismissively ignored by the seething Root Leader. His sole focus was on the infuriating man who refused to give up, refused to disappear and let him see his plans to fruition. Killer Intent bled out of every pore on Danzō's body as he mentally sifted through his arsenal for a jutsu that would spare his remaining Sharingan and yet eliminate the Uchiha nuisance once and for all. Nausea swept over Sai as the kage level animosity submerged him in a choking miasma. But even though Sai flinched away from the glaring eye contact, Itachi welcomed the fury and capitalized on Danzō's mistake.

"You will not live to see the glory of Konoha," Danzō growled, his arm beginning to glow as he pumped chakra all the way through his fingers. "The Uchiha are nothing but egotistical, power hungry, backstabbers, who can never be trusted to abide by the dictates of their true leader." His hand raised as he glared directly into Itachi's fading Mangekyo, smug glee twisting his scarred face at the prospect of delivering the final blow to the barely breathing shinobi. "Hashirama-sama should have never made a pact with Madara, the Uchiha Curse can only be stopped with their complete elimination!"

"Hypocrite."

Danzō froze. He had heard the word clearly, and yet Itachi's mouth had not moved.

"The Curse of the Uchiha died with the Clan. Itachi and Sasuke are the inheritors of a new belief."

"You…" Turning his head slowly around, for the first time in years, fear struck Danzō's stone heart. "You are dead."

Shisui glared back into his killer's pale face, standing tall and unafraid in his uniform, hitai ate flashing. "I see you, Shimura Danzō. I know what you are. You are the curse of hatred. The scum of all traitors. The forgotten shinobi who will never know the glory of the spotlight. The coward hiding in the sewers." His single Mangekyo whirled with crimson hatred as his voice dropped with devilish wrath. "And you deserve every death you endure on your way to hell."

A katon so hot it melted the rusty hinges off the gates behind him erupted out of Shisui's mouth, and once again tortuous screams filled the air.

Itachi clung to Sai as they fled around the corner away from the blast of his fire jutsu. The Genjutsu he had cast when Danzō met his whirling gaze had truly sapped the last of his strength, and it was naught but pure perseverance that allowed him to knead together enough chakra to deliver the fireball.

They slumped to the ground, Itachi barely registering Sai's arms as they roughly propped him up against the wall and he hurriedly said something about climbing the roof to signal for help. The worn shinobi closed his eyes, counting the slowing beats of his heart as he whispered out his last regret.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, maybe…next time."

The moist weight of a small body landed on his shoulder, and two cool wet fingertips poked at his sunken cheek, making Itachi blink slowly. Sai was bent over him, smiling gently as he released his hold on a white slug the size of a cat.

"Don't give up yet, Itachi-kun," Katsuyu's high pitched voice said breathily as she continued to prod him with her antennae. "Sakura-chan would never forgive me if you did not come back to her."

His head thumped against the dilapidated boards he leaned upon, as Itachi drank in the purest healing chakra he had ever felt. With Katsuyu's Natural Energy replenishing his stores he could feel his burns, cuts, and bruises fading, taking away his pain. Lifting his heavy eyelids, he pierced Sai with an intense stare. "Listen, there are still three eyes…"

For the seventh time Danzō's body heaved as he reversed his fate, erasing the damage but not the memory of being turned into a human torch. Genjutsu, he realized with resentment, that bastard Shisui must have met with Itachi before his death, there is no other way the brat would know about that man.

He scanned the sky, impatiently searching for any sign of his rogue mercenaries, but nothing except flat gray autumn clouds greeted his anxious scrutiny. Danzō checked his arm again, three Sharingan blinked dazedly from his forearm, and with the hidden Mangekyo in his head, he knew he was running out of chances to end this unexpected battle. I cannot waste the Mangekyo, it is the key to my plan, the final jutsu with which I will possess all the bijū and force the rest of the shinobi world to bow to my power.

Danzō whipped his head around and saw no sign of the two traitors. Assuming they had hidden, probably to lick their wounds, he decided to use the opportunity to flee and leave them for the Akatsuki to deal with, whatever was hidden in the Uchiha Shrine would be unattainable if he lost all the Sharingan before he could get to it. But as he turned to leap up to the rooftops, his body was bound in countless writhing ropes that hissed and constricted his chest and neck until he could barely breathe. His unbandaged eye bulged, recognizing the chakra snakes of his former pupil, and as his vision started to dim, he gurgled out a curse.

Sai refused to relax, even as he watched his ink snakes strangle Danzō to death. His hand snapped to the inkwell, wetting his brush as he flicked his eyes around, trying to anticipate where the monster would reappear. The sleeve of his torn jacket danced in the wind, exposing the wrist guard with the intricate sealwork of his Namikaze teammate, where he stored several extra scrolls, brushes, and ink. Two more eyes…

Itachi stumbled to the end of the alley where Sai had tried to force him to hide, leaning heavily on the wall in exhaustion, but unable to reconcile in his soul the idea of walking away from this place of such bitter memories while the true demon of Konoha still stalked the shadows with his family's stolen eyes. He saw Sai braced for a fight, his back stiff and shoulders low, every muscle tensed to react to the slightest movement that would reveal Danzō's next attack.

A flicker of white robes was the only hint of his damned existence, and in a blur of movement Danzō was standing between them, facing Itachi as he bit his thumb. But instead of weaving hand signs, his fingers were pulling open the ties of his robes and dragging the bloody digit down his chest. Sai's hand was flying across his scroll, a vicious tiger coming to life under his brush as he bravely stood his ground. But Itachi saw the markings on Danzō's chest, the sneer on his face, and realized that the man had them exactly where he wanted them.

"Ura Shishō Fūin!"

The death seal mushroomed out in a black orb from where Danzō stood, confidence in his victory making him grin despite the maliciously suicidal tactic. His eighth use of Izanagi would only leave him one Sharingan and one Mangekyo, but Itachi and Sai would be sucked up into the oblivion of a soulless purgatory, unable to so much as dream of Konoha's forests for the rest of eternity. Darkness engulfed Danzō's mind, a now almost familiar blank silence that erased his destiny as the forbidden jutsu burned away the words of his life's story where they were etched in time, leaving only a blank page upon which he could rewrite his own demise once more.

With a rush he was suddenly standing yet again, squinting in the bright light of the blazing sun. This is not right, he thought as his mind reorganized itself again. The sun was not shining before, it should be a cold autumn day…

A blast of hot wind beat against his face, flaring his robes out behind him and singeing the hairs on his head. Raising his good hand to protect his face, Danzō looked up in dismay at the source of the smoldering heat.

A towering orange Susano'o with massive wings of fire hovered overhead, sending superheated waves of wind down upon the earth with each flap. Itachi stood stoic as always within the chest of the enormous entity, a white and blue slug curled around his shoulders, and in his hand he held Sai well above the deadly circumference of Danzō's death seal.

Sweat ran freely down Danzō's face as he saw Itachi's mouth form the words that he could not hear over the panicked rush of blood in his ears.

One last eye.

"NO!" Danzō bellowed in disbelief. This is my last chance, I cannot afford to lose my final Sharingan. I need at least one buffer against the Akatsuki before I face the bijū!

The sky began to ripple under the boiling intensity of Itachi's Susano'o, and for a moment the Root Leader thought he might never live to wear the hat he had coveted for decades. That all of his planning, all of his gambles, all the pieces of himself that he had sold to the devil, were pointless.

But Itachi seemed just as fixated on the rending sky, a look of trepidation crossing his face until his shoulders hunched with a bone deep cough that racked his body, shaking his thready focus on the desperate jutsu he was maintaining. As the chakra warrior dispelled, collapsing like a tower of blocks batted away by a celestial hand, Itachi and Sai fell to the ground.

"Itachi-kun!" Katsuyu wailed in his ear. "I cannot heal you fast enough for you to perform that jutsu! What restoration I have given you is now gone. Do not knead anymore chakra, or even I will not be able to save you."

Itachi heard her, but his attention was focused on the gaping hole opening up overhead just like it did every time the insane Tobi made an entrance. He heard Danzō's gritty laughter over the sound of his rasping breaths as he fought to pull air into his overtaxed lungs. So this is the end of us.

"You thought you could defeat me," Danzō mocked, his eager gaze flicking from the swirling dimensional opening that had heralded the Orange Masked Man's arrival when they met in the forest, to Itachi's weakened body. "But now my checkmate has arrived."

Danzo glared with malevolence at the subdued Uchiha splayed helplessly out upon the dirt. His greedy mind rejoiced as the sound of two sets of feet landed behind his back. His long awaited reinforcements had finally arrived.

Pain exploded in his gut. Danzō coughed, his breath stolen as his whole body was forcefully thrust into the air. His arms flailed, grasping fruitlessly at anything to relieve the torture of gravity dragging him downward and splitting him open. His head lolled forward, and the sight of a gleaming sword protruding from his abdomen caused him to gape in disbelief.

Without even attempting to decipher the cause of his tenth death, Danzō mentally cried out for the rebirth of his body, offering up the last eye in his arm for the time traveling jutsu.

Nothing happened.

Panic seized him, ignoring the pain Danzō began to desperately writhe upon the sword like a worm pierced on an immovable hook. With an inhuman strength, his assailant flung his body aside with the delicacy of tossed garbage. As the blade that glowed with celestial purity withdrew from his body, it felt as though it sucked his very soul out with it. Danzō hit the ground and rolled, the blurring vision of his eye glimpsing a multitude of golden chains engulfing Itachi's body.

A foot violently kicked his shoulder, making Danzō gasp in pain and hack up mouthfuls of blood as his torso was crushed under a merciless stomp that pinned him down upon the stained earth. The snarling face of a black haired man with burning red eyes greeted his gawking gaze, glaring down at him with furious contempt as he ripped the bandages off Danzō's hidden eye.

"My sword is Justice, none of your tricks can escape it," he spit out through clenched teeth. "My destiny is to deliver divine retribution to the earth, and your soul has been marked by the Shinigami. My name is Uchiha Sasuke. And yes, I am your checkmate."

The last thing Danzō saw was the jabbing fingers of Sasuke's gloved hand, tearing Shisui's eye from his head, and then the world fell away into a blackness so profound, it drown out all memory of light.

Karin carefully helped Itachi to his feet, her chains delicately delivering her unique Uzumaki chakra with greater efficiency than any bite upon her skin. Sasuke watched with thinly veiled anxiety as Karin utilized Kami's blessing to revive his nearly unconscious brother. As he deliberately cleaned Masayoshi on Danzō's white robe before sheathing it, Sasuke mentally offered up his gratitude that Karin was able to deliver her chakra without having to sacrifice her flesh anymore.

Slowly approaching his brother, Sasuke hesitated, shifting from foot to foot and inhaling slowly through his nose. Itachi waited patiently, silently assessing him even while allowing Sasuke the mercy of a long moment's pause to find the right words with which to break the ice. What does one say to their only living relative, whom they had actively tried to murder at last sight? Kami knew Itachi had never been good with verbally explaining his emotions, even before he had nearly ruined both their lives. Pity stirred in his chest and he opened his mouth to assure his brother that it was all in the past, that they both needed to start over, when the younger Uchiha suddenly dropped into a deep bow at Itachi's feet. Karin sucked in her breath at the shocking show of humility, and Sai stared on in awe and confusion.

"Otouto," Itachi's voice was warm and deep. "There is no need for this—"

"Forgive me." Sasuke interrupted, keeping his face lowered.

Itachi froze, staring blankly at his brother. The man groveling before him no longer boiled with barely controlled hatred, but emanated a weighty aura of sincerity that made one feel like they were hearing the purest truth. Sasuke raised his head, his solemn face gleaming with a depth of emotion that spoke more clearly to Itachi's awareness than any poetic apology. The sweet little brother he had sacrificed everything to protect was alive within this man. Thriving, maturing, and encapsulating the hope of a forsaken Clan.

The soft smile of a time nearly forgotten slowly curved Itachi's lips, and he firmly poked Sasuke in the forehead.

"Always, Sasuke."


As soon as the Code Nine signal had been given, Root shinobi had stormed the village walls in order to ensure that nobody got in or out, and even as their leader fought in the Uchiha District they fought to defend their position at the gates of Konoha against the doggedly determined onslaught of Leaf shinobi who were throwing waves of jutsu at their thinning ranks. Between blows the blank masked agents kept a wary eye on the battle raging on the other side of the village between their leader and an unknown chakra powerhouse that towered over the Uchiha Compound with a menacing skeletal form.

"Can we get closer to Danzō-sama?" An electronic voice crackled in a Root agent's intercom as he leapt out of range of another attack. After killing his partner he had posted up as the look out for the gate, awaiting further orders which should have come already, things were not going as smoothly as they had calculated.

"Negative," another radio voice answered, the sounds of clashing weapons and shouts nearly drowning out the message. "The Hyuga are preventing any advance to offer assistance. Hyuga Hinata has created a living moat around the area, no one has been able to survive crossing it."

Why is she alive? Hanabi should have killed the entire Main House by now. Things are not going according to plan.

The agent at the gate fought on, unable to even consider doing anything else but follow orders no matter how dire the odds were against him, all while listening to the unbelievable reports of Danzō-sama's losing battle.

The Konoha shinobi pushed back with a vengeance, and he and one other Root were forced to climb the wall tower to get out of range. His gaze flicked to the sky, looking out for the twisting space that signaled the transportation jutsu of their backup. Orders were to notify their captain at the first sign of the Akatsuki's arrival so that the beginning signal of Phase Two could be broadcast across the comms to the rest of the previously hidden Root army.

Slugs began to crawl throughout the streets, and the Root agents struggled to hold their position atop the wall tower as more and more of their attempts to kill the Konoha shinobi were survived thanks to the healing aid from the Hokage's Summon. The Root agent frowned, the Hokage was supposed to be dead by now, but with Danzō occupied and the Akatsuki yet to arrive, she was obviously still fighting back.

His fleeting thought was interrupted when the other Root agent suddenly fell against his back, blood pouring from a puncture wound caused by what appeared to be an arrow so large its point was like a kunai. It had completely impaled through the man's head, killing him instantly. Immediately squatting so as to make himself as small a target as possible, the remaining Root shinobi quickly scanned the rooftops in search of the hidden sniper. In the obscenely far distance he spotted a brunette kunoichi with two buns atop her head, easily drawing her massive bow as chakra flowed down her arms, and carefully sighting him within her crosshairs.

He barely had time to blink before she loosed her enormous arrow. Dodging behind the tower wall, he couldn't suppress a shudder as he looked up at the trembling arrow that thumped into the floorboard, precisely where he had just been kneeling.

"She is a good shot."

The Root shinobi snapped his head around, startled to see a stoic faced man and woman calmly stepping through a swirling black hole beside him, as another man peered out from within the tear in space. They were all wearing long black coats with red clouds, and for the first time in his memory, the Root shinobi felt relief.

"You are Akatsuki," he said hurriedly, not really asking, and already reaching for the button on his radio to relay the message of their arrival.

"No we're the fucking circus. Who else do you think we are?" The orange masked one who still lurked within the opening snarled. The man with unsettling gray-ringed eyes ignored the sassy comment of his comrade, and instead addressed the purple haired kunoichi who appeared to be commanding a multitude of paper squares into an angelic set of wings.

"Konan, where is Danzō?" He asked in a commanding tone that immediately identified him as the Leader.

As she soared above them the Root agent waited for another arrow to skewer her out of the air, but the sniper kunoichi must have moved on to other targets, for the woman was able to calmly scan the village below.

"On the edge of the village, fighting Uchiha Itachi."

"That Son of a Bitch!" The masked man hissed, but even as the Leader began to levitate up to the paper kunoichi's side, he hung back as though afraid to set foot upon the floorboards. Who is he hiding from?

Curiosity getting the best of him, the Root agent looked around the Tower as well. Itachi was also supposed to be long dead according to his intel, but it appeared that yet another enemy was suspiciously still alive.

"Konoha has reinforcements as well it would seem," the deep voice of the Leader assessed, and his eyes narrowed disbelievingly as another time-space dimension opened up above the Uchiha Compound. "Impossible."

Suddenly the Root agent's earpiece was erupting with the shouts from his fellow shinobi on the ground near the site of Danzō-sama's battle. "There are two unidentified shinobi that just arrived over the Uchiha Compound, they might be the Akatsuki!"

The sound of his Captain's voice immediately rang out over the radio. "Root! Begin Phase Two of the—"

"Disregard!" Another voice screamed into the intercom. "It is Uchiha Sasuke! I repeat, one of them is Uchiha Sasuke!"

Dark chuckling drew the baffled Root agent's attention away from the earpiece he had yanked out of his head due to the painfully loud transmissions. "Well I hope you have a good education to fall back on," the orange-masked Akatsuki next to him laughed cryptically. "Because your precious Danzō is as good as dead now. Your career as a shinobi just came to an end my friend. Better update that resume."

Unable to comprehend any of the nonsense, the agent was about to ask him to clarify when the Leader floating above their heads called out in a clear voice that made his skin crawl and heart shudder.

"I cannot allow them to interfere with our mission. Itachi has renounced our doctrines and therefore I declare him guilty. Let him know pain and remember what we strive to accomplish." Lifting his hand and pointing a painted fingernail, the Leader aimed his chakra at the distant point across the village, an unbelievable range for any attack, and the Root shinobi held his breath in awe.

"Almighty Push."

Even the earth caved under the massive pressure of the godlike jutsu that instantly leveled the entire Uchiha District…with only two words.

Behind his mask the Root agent was trembling, "Y-you killed Danzō-sama."

"I did what was necessary." The man replied remorselessly. "Besides, I could sense that Danzō was already dead."

For the second time that day, a mushroom cloud of debris loomed over Konoha. As it was blown away by a sudden gust of wind, the Root agent was left speechless. A massive purple samurai stood tall and steady as a mountain, rising up out of the fresh crater. Within his torso were the bodies of four people, protectively floating behind his armored chest. Even from this distance, the weight of the entity's Killing Intent was enough to make the Root agent nauseous.

From the rippling doorway to his dimension, Tobi simply rolled his single eye. Nagato had barely set foot in Konoha and already his Deva Path was spouting doctrine. Now their only ally was most certainly turned into mummy dust, and Minato would know exactly where they were. The thought had Tobi stepping deeper into his portal, not wanting to risk being sensed by his former sensei like at the lake in Kiri when he had tried to get the Three Tails. His own plans were yet to come to fruition. He glanced up just as the impressive purple Susano'o flew off toward the hospital with his passengers, and Tobi decided it was a good time to send out the cavalry. Those zetsu are lame but they make for great distractions. I can unleash them all around the village and hopefully overwhelm Konoha with their numbers.

"Have fun with your puppets," Tobi yelled up at Konan and Tendō as he allowed his portal to close. Just before it sealed shut he heard the Deva Path summon his five possessed partners, and couldn't suppress a giggle at the idea of how many shinobi were about to shit themselves as the infamous Six Paths of Pein rained down their unique talents upon The Leaf.

The Root agent seemed to be frozen to his spot, as his expressionless eyes stared through his blank mask at Tobi's retreating face. With a jaunty click of his tongue Tobi pointed sarcastically at the lost man. "Good luck with that second career, you're gonna need it."


As Sasuke's shimmering purple Susano'o soared overhead, the wide wings beat the air around Hinata, making her squint as dirt and debris scattered with the powerful gusts of wind. Blinking away the dust, she immediately zeroed in on the disappearing chakra warrior with her dōjutsu, locking onto the figures encased within its body just as she felt Naruto's hiraishin seal begin to tingle on her spine.

"Is it him?" Naruto asked excitedly, before his feet were even solidly planted. Hinata couldn't hold back her smile as Sasuke seemed to sense her powerful Tenseigan zero in on him, and turned his head back towards his two teammates, a smirk twisting his mouth.

"He's back," she whispered, and despite the grim destruction surrounding them Naruto let out a whoop of pure joy that had her own energy buzzing with eagerness. They were together! Team Seven, The Three Scion, the lost children turned Kami's Chosen. United, nothing could stop them.

Renewed determination surged through her as Hinata swiftly scanned the area to confirm if any of her clansmen were seriously injured in the unbelievable obliteration of the Uchiha District as well as a huge swath of the village behind them. She had barely been able to raise a rock wall and prevent them from being sucked into the vacuum of the gravitational jutsu as it crushed an entire section of Konoha as well as the earth beneath it. Circular pock marks dotted the area where Hyuga had used their kaiten to protect against the lethal chunks of flying debris, and now the water of her moat was pouring into the deep crater with the thunderous roar of a towering waterfall.

"Hime, who did this?" Naruto was channeling his Natural Energy, the skin around his eyes slowly staining orange. Closing his golden eyes he focused for a moment and pointed sharply towards the gates of the village. "There, who are they? I sense..three? No, two massive chakras."

Noting with relief that Kastuyu's numerous bodies were making their way over the rubble toward her clansmen, Hinata refocused her eyes and fixed her Tenseigan upon the unidentified intruders who could level an entire community from such a great distance. "They are definitely Akatsuki," she confirmed upon seeing their cloaks. "One has the Rinnegan, the other is the kunoichi with the paper jutsu Jiraiya-sama described in the debriefs."

As she assessed their newest enemies, one began flipping through several hand signs, his face not even twitching as chakra surged through his network and suddenly several more Rinnegan eyed shinobi were appearing alongside them. All with bright orange hair, and all with flat gray Rinnegan eyes. Naruto listened intently to her rapid description, fingers twitching with building tension.

"His network is bizarre," Hinata appraised the Leader calmly but quickly, as she began to stretch in preparation for the anticipated life and death battle. "His tenketsu are not in the appropriate locations. Chakra is centered around the piercings in his body, not the normal network pathways. The same goes for all the rest that he summoned, except for the kunoichi who arrived with him. She is powerful, but completely human."

"Puppets," Naruto concluded, recalling the information Ero-sennin had given him about his own brush with death at the hands of his former students. "They must be ones I saw fighting Jiraiya that day when I flashed him out of Amegakure. I've never sensed them in Sage Mode before, they are fucking ridiculous powerhouses of chakra. But the real Rinnegan Shinobi is not here. I would be able to sense that warped chakra if he were close by."

As they spoke the newly summoned shinobi split into all directions across Konoha upon an unheard command. One headed for the Hokage Tower, one began to weave signs for summoning, another seemed to be more machine than man as garish metallic weapons emerged from its body. The Leaf may have eliminated one monster with Danzō's demise, but now numerous horrors were emerging to replace him. The insane jutsu the Akatsuki were effortlessly exhibiting with placid expressions was of a level that could rearrange the landscape of shinobi history.

Naruto noted all of this, his Sage Mode fully activated and Kurama nearly salivating at the chance to really stretch his legs for the first time in decades. It would take an extreme degree of stupidity, bravery, and god-given luck for any ninja to even consider weaving a single hand sign against the chakra leviathans that were now invading Konohagakure. A low chuckle rumbled out of his chest as his yellow eyes slitted with the bleeding demonic chakra of his hungry partner.

Perfect.

"I'll take the Rinnegan bastard," Naruto and Kurama's voices growled in unison.

Hinata cracked her knuckles, relaxing out of a final contorting stretch, her piercing Tenseigan making her eager smile look more like a greedy leer at the prospect of a battle where she could truly unleash the full potential of her blessed dōjutsu.

"The kunoichi is mine."

Ascending to the top of the nearest building which still survived, the two Scion of Kami unleashed a burst of Killing Intent that made even the genin guarding the distant bunkers full of civilians gasp for breath. The surge of mind numbing power drew the complete attention of the two Akatsuki who were once the treasured students of the Frog Sannin. They both turned in unison toward the taunting bait of the brazen shinobi couple whose chakras were bleeding together and swirling around them with the eery foreshadowing of an oncoming storm.

Together Naruto and Hinata stood hand in hand, straight backed and unfazed by the intimidating invaders as they fixedly stared with absolute fearlessness. Purple and orange chakra danced along their bodies and into the air, a beacon of vibrant light that could be seen for miles across the hazy village. Throughout the chaos and destruction of their various fights, shinobi paused and gaped, pointing and wondering who or what was the source of that dense and glowing chakra.

"Are you ready Hime?" Naruto grinned, squeezing her hand and glancing down at her with blatant admiration beaming from his face. Hinata responded with a faint blush and a firm squeeze of her own, charging up her chakra until it morphed into the head of a lion, his humming Rasengan revolving in the center of its gaping mouth.

"Ready, Naruto-kun."

They charged. Their bodies blurred into a single streak of chakra which moved with soundbreaking velocity, barging over the rooftops with the grace of a cat and the momentum of a hurricane wind, a trail of flashing energy streaking behind them like a comet's tail.

The Gentle Step Spiraling Twin Lion Fists collided into the gates with the rumble of a tsunami striking land. The gates were blown wide open, the wall torn down, every last Root agent that had posted up on the perimeter there was eliminated. But the two Akatsuki dodged with agility equal to their kage level skills, soaring even higher above the exploding orb of Naruto and Hinata's combined attack.

Naruto moved first, unable to hold back his contempt any longer as his feral instincts rose to the surface of his mind and merged with the protective ferocity all dedicated shinobi felt when guarding their home. With lightning speed he assaulted the Deva Path in a malicious storm of Kawazu Kumite that would have shattered the bones of a normal man. The two shinobi tore through the rest of the town, a blur of destructive blows that plowed down buildings like a wrecking ball of calamitous chakra.

"Where is Nagato?" Naruto demanded between blows, startling the Rinnegan corpse with his abrupt revelation of the Akatsuki's greatest secret, and allowing the blond to blast him into the side of a concrete building. The Deva Path smashed backwards through a series of walls, the final one collapsing atop his body in a lethal landslide of bricks and rebar. Naruto waited, his Sage Mode fading for the briefest moment and he paused atop the ruins to gather Nature Energy once more.

Across the village he could sense the chakra of his father, also utilizing the training he had completed at Mt. Myoboku to enter Sage Mode. Minato was flashing around the urban battleground with the insane speed of his infamous Flying Thunder God, eliminating the masses of white zetsu that had started pouring out of the randomly appearing space-time portals and flooding the village streets. The evidence of the Yondaime's lethal attacks against the hordes of zombie-like resurrections was rapidly crowding the demolished cityscape with new growths of leafy forest.

Out of nowhere pain burst through Naruto's chest, his breath stolen from his lungs by a blow that left him keeling forward off his perch. Plummeting to the ground he coughed blood across the dirt, his mind flooded with a searing agony unlike anything he had ever endured. Dazedly looking down, he was barely able to pinpoint the long black rod humming with something that felt like the burning hatred of a blighted soul protruding from his chest. Lifting a shaking hand he tried to grab the jagged end and rip it from his body, but missed and only succeeded in causing the heart stopping pain to spread further through his gut.

Naruto! Get a hold of yourself! This is no ordinary weapon, the chakra within it comes from the man that is animating the puppets. The abnormal sensation is the other Rinnegan resonating with yours. You have to find the source!

I see, but it would be a hell of a lot easier to track him if I wasn't bleeding out in the middle of the damned street…

A derisive snort echoed in Naruto's head as Kurama acknowledged his snarky plea for help. Next time, ask nicely Brat. Now, leave it to me.

Hai. Thank you Kurama.

Pein approached the pathetically gasping man, his face not displaying the disgust Nagato felt as he saw through Tendō's eyes how weak the jinchuriki of the Kyūbi truly was. Even now, as red chakra boiled across the skin of the rapidly exsanguinating ninja, the fool could not so much as raise his paling face from the dirt.

"Baka," he condemned in a low tone, looking down with disdain. A second black rod shot out from his hand, pinning the jinchuriki to the earth through his shoulder.

"Now you cannot even crawl away like the ignorant insect that you are. Did Jiraiya-sensei teach you nothing? My Paths of Pein are unbeatable. My Rinnegan makes me more powerful than any man on this earth, and the only true immortal." Lifting his hand, a third chakra rod emerged from Tendō's palm, aimed directly for the center of the seal upon Naruto's abdomen.

"With the Kyūbi under my control, no one will be able to refute my truths. The world will know pain. Through their united suffering they will see the reality of our pitiful existence and turn to me for guidance into the new age of peace. I am the Savior of Mankind. The bearer of The Blessed Dōjutsu. You should be grateful to give your life to a god like me."

Naruto hissed out a jumbled response that was obscured by the blood dripping from his lips and the roiling red aura that shrouded his immobilized body. Pein ignored the lame attempt at channeling demonic chakra, centering his second rod and preparing to subdue both boy and beast with his final blow. "Your words are pointless. Prepare to know pain."

The black stake shot out, its well chosen aim as deadly as the ambition which fueled it. But just before it sank into Naruto's skin, two blinding yellow chakra arms surged out of his body and grasped the ebony spear. Pein's soulless body jolted with the purity of the hellish chakra which instantly short circuited the Deva Path's fabricated network with its electrifying energy.

Kurama watched through Naruto's red slitted eyes as the heretic shinobi fried beneath the searing heat of his demonic chakra arms. With snarling glee the bijū ripped every single rod and piercing out of the enemy's thrashing body, counting the names of his fallen brothers with each brutal yank. With the purging of the last receiver, the corpse collapsed into a boneless heap.

Within his mindscape Naruto sat still as stone, concentrating upon the chakra signature of the rod that still impaled his chest and completely ignoring the destruction of the supposedly Almighty Leader of the Akatsuki at the hands of his bijū partner. So keen was his focus that his eyebrow barely twitched when Kurama finally called his name.

Naruto! Did you find him?

Blue eyes snapped open, swirling with the celestial pattern of the true bearer of Kami's Will, and Naruto's Rinnegan seized upon the paper tree hidden deep within the woods of The Land of Fire. Bouncing to his feet he cleanly pulled the allegedly lethal weapon from his body, casting it aside like a used toothpick as his guts instantly healed with the sizzling heat of Kurama's chakra. A wicked grin curved his whiskered cheeks and Kurama roared with battle lust as the two partners stoked their chakra in fervent anticipation of their battle with the enemy that had been hunting them for years.

The earth caved under each pounding step as Naruto hurtled across the village and through the broken wall in the space of a heartbeat. His mind chanted the only three words he could coherently string together as his chakra skyrocketed into overdrive.

I see you.