"Above us!" Karin warned and Sasuke resisted the urge to groan in exasperation as he craned his head back to glance at the sky while he was mid jump between roof tops. Deidara was dropping clay bombs behind them.
The Uchiha cursed, realizing it wasn't even an attack intended to target him or Karin, it was just destruction of village infrastructure. It was a common war tactic to act against enemy civilians, but most considered it dishonorable.
Sasuke popped a hyorogan in his mouth, swallowing the combat drug and reactivating his Sharingan, getting sick of the hit and run tactics of Deidara.
Naruto was quickly aware of the Akatsuki bomber attacking his village and swiftly made a single Moku Bunshin with a lot of Senjutsu chakra. The Uzumaki was surprised by how alive this bunshin felt, like it could fight for itself with himself focusing on Pachi and the Moku Bunshin on that front. Despite being as lifelike as any other Moku Bunshin this one was easy to tell from the real Naruto as it had a green tint to it's Rinnegan and a wreath of leaves grew on the head from under the blond hair, which seemed to be lighter and stood up slightly.
"Ao, go with my Moku Bunshin, I think that's the direction Sasuke was coming." Naruto ordered, wanting the man to use Kiba to help against Deidara.
"Hold on! I want to fight Deidara-nii!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed, eager to take down her village nukenin.
Naruto couldn't remember if the kunoichi had Raiton chakra or not but decided not to waste time arguing and let her go with them.
Sasuke blinked owlishly as Naruto appeared in front of him with Ao and Kurotsuchi. The one eyed Kiri sensor pulled out both Kiba blades and Kurotsuchi took a low stance, ready to dodge in any direction. The Uchiha noticed the differences in his teammate and saw a lot of Mokuton chakra.
"Moku Bunshin?" Sasuke asked, just to be sure the blonde hadn't invented some kind of Mokuton Nintaijutsu just to outplay the Raikage. Actually that gave the Uchiha an idea as Naruto nodded to confirm he was a bunshin, "Well I already took a hyorogan, so I'll support with shurikenjutsu." he decided, letting Karin stand by herself.
The Moku Bunshin took Karin and disappeared in a flash before returning alone, "Alright she's with me now." the blonde bunshin said before weaving hand seals that ended on tiger, "Suiton: Suiten Hofutsu!" he declared before shifting to the snake seal and rising up on a growing tree to get higher above the roofs as water in the air over Konoha began collecting into droplets.
Sasuke stared in surprise at the power the bunshin was wielding and wondered just how much chakra his blonde teammate had. The sheer range of the Suiten Hofutsu was baffling as the water caught the falling bombs that detonated above the village, halting further harm against the village with a single Suiton no Jutsu.
Ao and Kurotsuchi were stunned as well but quickly recovered and ran up the side of the tree, glad their tree walking still worked on something infused with Naruto's chakra. Sasuke scowled at what felt like a growing gap in power but chased up the tree himself as he weaved hand seals.
"Haraton: Kamikiri!" Sasuke declared, getting the attention of the others as the Haraton chakra formed over the fingers and thumb of his left hand. The young Uchiha used his right hand to form a seal of confrontation and used that to shunshin next to Naruto's Moku Bunshin.
Sasuke held out his hand and formed a small ball of Haraton chakra, electricity arcing between the heated orb of plasma and the white hot chakra of his fingers before he used shunshin again, the ball of Haraton staying where it was. The Uchiha launched himself up and over and relied on his Sharingan to ensure he aimed the attack he prepared correctly, he made a second orb of Haraton chakra and lightning flashed between the two points, catching Deidara.
"Kaminari." Sasuke declared smugly as Deidara sank to one knee on his mount, the giant clay bird starting to fall out of the sky. The Uchiha landed on a platform of water made by Naruto's bunshin, his water walking required to stop from sinking in.
Deidara was wincing still as the bunshin jumped on another platform of water and the two young shinobi chased after the descending bomber. Ao and Kurotsuchi followed, jumping from platform to platform to catch up with the bunshin of the Hokage.
Sasuke let his Kamikiri dissipate so he could palm two handfuls of shuriken and flow Raiton chakra into them before throwing them at Deidara. Naruto's bunshin shifted to a tiger hand seal, moving the water into larger groupings to try catching the clay bird and stopping it from moving.
The Iwa nukenin scowled as his clay bird was caught and deactivated by shuriken that grazed him and numbed his only barely recovering body with Raiton chakra. Deidara couldn't make to escape and could only glare at the two young shinobi as the water surrounded him in the same orb of water surrounding his clay bird, the liquid condensing out of the air at the Suiton chakra wielded by the Senjutsu enhanced Moku Bunshin.
Naruto smirked at the victory Sasuke and his bunshin achieved as his other bunshin created with Pachi weaved hand seals, "Suiton: Suiryudan!" the three Naruto declared, their jutsu combining in mid air to form a three headed dragon of water rushing to strike Tendo Pein.
Gakido Pein stepped up to absorb the ninjutsu and Jiraiya charged to deal with him while he did. Shurado Pein moved to intercept the Sennin but was in turn intercepted by Pachi's body, flowing with Doton chakra. The two corpse puppets engaged in nintaijutsu, however Naruto had the advantage of Senjutsu and overpowered the supposed 'war god' ability Shurado granted.
Zabuza and Kisame engaged in a kenjutsu duel once again, this time Zabuza pulled back to let Kisame weave hand seals but used the opportunity to shunshin at Pein as Jiraiya slammed a fist into Gakido Pein. Tendo Pein didn't look at either of them or say anything as he activated Shinra Tensei and blasted both of them back and away from him.
Jiraiya was getting oddly used to being thrown around but Zabuza was tossed to the ground as Kisame finished his seals, "Suiton: Bakusui Shoha!" the blue skinned swordsman exclaimed, releasing a massive surge of water from his mouth that swiftly became a wave descending upon Zabuza.
Pachi and one of the bunshin rushed to protect Zabuza while the other two moved to intercept Shurado Pein from chasing Pachi's corpse. Zabuza found himself lifted up on a Doryuheki above the surging wave of water, Kisame leaped from atop the surging wall of water onto the sturdy wall of earth and swung at the bunshin that made the wall and Zabuza.
Pachi's right hand caught Samehada and the Doton chakra flowing through him started flowing into the sword as Kisame grinned and lifted his left hand to push down with additional leverage. Kisame stopped grinning as Suiton chakra flowed through Pachi as the corpse made a seal of confrontation, the blue skinned man realized why he couldn't shave, Samehada wasn't eating the chakra.
Kisame realized that there was only one reason the sword had stopped eating Naruto's chakra, and when Pachi's left hand gripped the hilt of the chakra draining sword that confirmed that Samehada was dormant. Zabuza moved to attack the nukenin while he grappled over Samehada with Pachi's corpse.
"Don't you dare!" Kisame snarled at Zabuza, "This isn't a kenjutsu duel anymore, Samehada is making a decision here!" he snapped, startling the Mizukage into halting mid swing, "Don't go getting in the way of tradition, Samehada would never have gone to you anyway, Zabuza." he said as he struggled against the Senjutsu chakra of Naruto flowing through the nukenin corpse.
Zabuza was surprised by Kisame's dedication to tradition and annoyed to be giving up another weapon to Naruto after Haku, but figured with a weapon like Samehada it was bound to wind up in hands outside of Kirigakure eventually. Most the swords had been taken away by their wielders and few had remained in Kirigakure until recently, but Samehada chose who would wield it so Naruto couldn't just gift it back to Kiri like he had the lightning blades Kiba.
The two Moku Bunshin overwhelmed Shurado Pein with Mokuton and Senjutsu, one of the Naruto bunshin binding the six armed corpse in roots rising from the ground with the snake hand seal while the other moved to finish him with a Senjutsu enhanced kick to the head only to be pulled towards Tendo Pein with Bansho Ten'in.
Gakido Pein sucked the chakra out of the Moku Bunshin but the natural energy within caused the created wood to go out of control and form a tree that grew so fast the two Pein needed to pull back to avoid being caught. Jiraiya leaped to take Gakido Pein out of the fight with a left hook before throwing a right haymaker at Tendo Pein.
The white haired Sennin was blown back by another Shinra Tensei but in his constant getting tossed around he'd noticed something in regards to the repulsive ability of Tendo Pein, it had a time limit between uses or Pein would have used it more offensively more often. By maintaining an offensive and forcing Pein to use Shinra Tensei defensively the old sensei was keeping his former student from using the repulsive jutsu offensively.
The bunshin holding Shurado Pein wrapped his captured for up with more Mokuton, cocooning the corpse entirely in wood and growing the wood into a thick tree, focusing his control to form a Fuinjutsu built into the wood to block the connection to the chakra receivers. The bunshin then used Mokuton to grow four extra arms out of either shoulder in a mimicry of Shurado before using the extra arms to stabilize a pair of Rasengan.
Kisame wrestled against the corpse of Pachi, but the old man had been a nintaijutsu specialist in his prime and his body had not deteriorated much with age, combined with Naruto's Senjutsu chakra flowing through his corpse the blue skinned man couldn't get the upper hand without the assistance of Samehada, and the shaving sword was still deciding which one it would help. The Kirigakure no Kaijin scowled, knowing that normally Samehada would have sided with whoever wouldn't need it to win and would soon side against him if he couldn't prove stronger soon, but was surprised at how much time the sword was giving him to prove himself considering how quickly it had taken his side when he'd taken it from the old wielder.
Kisame was almost touched that the sword was stalling in making an obvious decision, but it didn't help much against the superior strength Pachi's corpse had. Zabuza wanted to deal with the nukenin but charged to finish off Gakido Pein, used to fighting against Samehada by this point he didn't bother flowing chakra and simply cut the corpse down with basic sword swings, frowning as it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Copying Shurado using Mokuton?" Pein asked as the bunshin with six arms and a pair of Rasengan charged him, "A pointless effort." he said only to be proven wrong as a pair of arms made the tiger seal and another pair made the snake seal, with a shunshin the Moku Bunshin was in front of Tendo Pein as roots rose up from the ground and morphed into leaf coated branches to grab onto the orange haired man.
"Senpo: Rasenrengan!" Naruto's six armed bunshin declared as he drove the pair of swirling orbs of Senjutsu chakra towards the trapped Pein. Then the wood was splintered and the Moku Bunshin was sent flying backwards by another Shinra Tensei.
"Five seconds!" Jiraiya declared suddenly, "Good work Naruto, thanks to that attack I figured out the actual time limit on how often he can use his repulsion ability." he praised with a smirk as Tendo Pein turned on the Sennin.
Zabuza charged, "So he's defenseless now!" the swordsman exclaimed, swinging Kubikiribocho at the orange haired man. Tendo Pein proved the hypothesis of Jiraiya by dodging the blade with a dive as Obito appeared and threw handfuls of kunai with kibaku fuda tied to them into the tree containing Shurado, destroying the body but freeing it to be called away.
Before disappearing Obito delivered Gakido Pein out of his eye who turned the six armed Moku Bunshin into a tree by draining the chakra, jumping back to avoid being skewered by swiftly growing branches just as Obito disappeared again. Jiraiya rushed to help Zabuza deal with Tendo Pein, viewing that one as the more dangerous abilities Pein wielded.
The Raikage charged while the Gakido Pein was not by the side of Tendo Pein, raising his right arm to lariat the man into the attacks of the Mizukage and Gama Sennin, swinging Kubikiribocho and thrusting a Rasengan respectively. Pein disappeared with a frown, called back by Chikushodo Pein to avoid the pincer attack.
The three Kage level ninja swiftly pulled back on their swings to avoid hitting each other, Jiraiya dropped the flow of chakra to his jutsu, A halted his charge, and Zabuza strained his muscles while flowing chakra to his feet so he'd stick to the ground even with the weight of his sword pulling him off balance. Halting the swing of Kubikiribocho was an impressive feat of strength and chakra control, but it had Zabuza sweating from the strain.
Kisame knew as soon as Samehada chose Naruto, Pachi would be able to swing the sword into him, remembering keenly what had happened in his duel against the old owner of the shaving blade. The blue skinned shinobi decided to avoid that fate by backing off, charging at Zabuza while weaving hand seals as he abandoned his sword to the corpse puppet Naruto possessed with his Rinnegan.
The final Naruto bunshin rushed to intercept with Mokuton as Pachi charged with Samehada, Gakido Pein intercepted the Moku Bunshin and leaped back to evade the tree the chakra drained bunshin became. Kisame was also forced to leap aside but launched a Suiryudan at Zabuza in mid air.
The Mizukage dodged and weaved hand seals of his own on seeing the Samehada was in the hands of another, "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" Zabuza exclaimed, turning Kisame's created water into twelve of himself and they rushed to pin down the Kirigakure no Kaijin.
Although only a fifth of the Mizukage in ability there were still twelve bunshin armed with Kubikiribocho attacking an unarmed Kisame, the blue skinned man forced on the defensive as he noticed Pachi carving into Gakido Pein with Samehada out of the corner of his eye. He weaved more hand seals before Zabuza charged in and carved through four of his own bunshin to swing at Kisame, who quickly halted his jutsu and made the tiger seal to assist him flow Suiton chakra to the point of impact.
Kubikiribocho still cut but the momentum was halted by Kisame's chakra, the nukenin used that to shunshin away from Zabuza but into the swing of Samehada, the blow from Pachi swinging the shaving sword through Kisame's right leg. The nukenin clenched his teeth to keep from crying out in pain, noticing Obito return with the Tendo, Shurado, and Gakido Pein yet again as Pachi raised Samehada to swing only to stop and make the seal of confrontation suddenly.
Naruto appeared making the same seal with his left hand and his right hand holding four Kuroikui, Futon chakra already flowed into them and he tossed them into Kisame while the man was stunned by his arrival. Pachi disappeared as the chakra receivers sunk into Kisame's neck, left clavicle, one sinking through both his heart and left lung, and the final sinking between liver and kidney but failing to hit them.
Kisame smirked as he died, amused by the placings of the Kuroikui but disappointed he didn't get to see a world without lies. Seeing as it looked like Naruto had come to finish him personally he decided to die with some pride and made the tiger hand seal, launching a Suidan out of his mouth at the unarmed young Sennin.
Naruto absorbed the Suiton no Jutsu, taking the chakra into his body, "So you have attained Gakido as well." Tendo Pein spoke, "And I can tell with my eyes that you truly are the original, good of you to come to us." he said, causing the Raikage to glare at the blonde young Hokage.
Naruto grinned, "Sorry, just delivering something important." he said, disappearing in a flash of yellow. Pein was exasperated by the ability but supposed they were using such tactics as well.
Deidara refused to be stopped fully and tore off his cloak, using it as floating cover as he grabbed a mouth full of clay. Sasuke suspected he was up to something and moved to grab the vajra hilt of the Raijin no Ken, but Deidara used a weak explosion to knock himself out of the water. The Uchiha noticed he'd broken his own arm and blood was coming out of his ears on top of the nukenin skidding across the ground.
Naruto's Moku Bunshin gave chase as Deidara forced clay into an odd mouth on his chest and the bunshin's eyes widened as he saw the build up of Bakuton chakra. Pachi appeared in a yellow flash wielding Samehada and leaped at Deidara, shaving away the explosive chakra, mouth, and clay with one swing of Samehada as the Moku Bunshin landed and trapped Deidara with Mokuton.
Sasuke frowned as he looked down, the blast had blown some nearby windows and one of the shards of glass had started floating. He saw the faint hint of chakra so he advanced his eyes to Mangekyo and they widened, "Naruto look out!" he warned the bunshin who turned and saw a shard of glass flying at him.
The glass was stopped by condensing water of Suiten Hofutsu as the two young teammates stared in shock at what appeared to be an actual ghost. Naruto's bunshin screamed as he leaped away from the spectral form of Hidan.
"Holy shit you actually are immortal, yeah..." Deidara coughed, only standing because the branches and roots holding him in place had him held tight.
"Sucks to be you nerds!" Hidan laughed, "I can attack you all I want and you can't touch me! I'm pure chakra and will! Praise Jashin-sama!" he preached while laughing, "I gotta thank you, if you hadn't sentenced me to die from the ultimate pain I'd have lost my blessings and just slowly died and rotted in that damned cell! So thanks for the death sentence, Hokage-sama! I'll return the favor!" he exclaimed, picking up handfuls of glass and tossing them as improvised shuriken at the Moku Bunshin.
Sasuke used Amaterasu on Hidan and immediately wished he hadn't as the chakra ghost was now a black flaming chakra ghost and was laughing about it. The Suiten Hofutsu protected Naruto's bunshin as he landed before he steeled his nerves and charged at Hidan, using Gakido to drain the Amaterasu and chakra ghost into himself.
The bunshin widened his eyes and leaped backwards, a surprised look on his face as the spectral form of Hidan returned, "Nice try but I'm just a soul servant of Jashin-sama now, an unstoppable immortal wraith!" he bragged, "Only a god greater than Jashin-sama could stop me now!" he declared arrogantly.
The bunshin became stern and charged in to drain the chakra of the ghost again, Naruto appeared next to his bunshin and reached out to grab the head of Hidan while focusing his chakra. He pushed some to his Rinnegan and some to his hand as he grabbed at the wraith and started pulling.
"Woah! Wait a sec that ain't my chakra!" Hidan exclaimed, concern entering his voice. Naruto ignored him and continued to pull only to halt as his vision became black.
"You may not have this soul, it is possessed by this Jashin-sama." The void spoke lightly, with a voice like a whisper of cold wind that sent shivers down Naruto's back. He was still using Senjutsu and he could feel the presence anchoring Hidan to this world.
Jashin horrified the young Sennin and sweat beaded on his face but he couldn't let Hidan get away so he pulled, "You defy me?" the deific presence questioned, "Even with those eyes and a shard of that god within you, a mortal cannot stand among gods." it warned and Naruto felt fear.
The young Hokage swallowed a lump in his throat and for the first time since his new deal with Kurama called on the chakra of the kitsune. Naruto pulled with everything he had and tore Hidan's soul out, panting from the exertion as he felt the seemingly endless presence give way under the might of the Biju.
Sasuke stared at his teammate in surprise since the chakra cloak was very different, white chakra with black marks indicating the Fuin holding the chakra in human form around Naruto. It was completely different from the usual demonic red chakra. There were even magatama and the Uzumaki spiral incorporated.
"What are you doing on the front lines?" The Uchiha asked his Hokage with a raised eyebrow, "I can tell you aren't a bunshin." he added to remind the Uzumaki of his ocular ability.
"Had to deliver something, just noticed something else too." Naruto answered as his Moku Bunshin disappeared in a flash, "These Rinnegan powers cost a lot of chakra but performing them through other bodies and bunshin locks them in place in a weird way." he explained as he approached Sasuke, "Kurotsuchi-chan, you can capture Deidara from there, I'll leave him to you and Ao." he finished before returning to the Hokage office with Sasuke.
"Damn it Naruto you can't just go rushing off like that!" Sakura scolded as soon as he appeared, "You're supposed to stay in the tower!" she reminded with a glare.
"It was important I swear!" Naruto defended himself as he raised his hands to placate before closing his eyes and turning serious as he focused on the battle against Pein, "He's gotta be high up, give the order for Kakashi and Gai to try finding his location so we can attack him for real." he ordered suddenly as his chakra cloak dropped, "There's a seventh Pein we haven't met yet, the real one." he explained.
Pein was surprised when Kisame leaped up and charged at the three of him, but noticed the Rinnegan in his eyes and realized Naruto was controlling the blue skinned man like he did the Rikudo. To his surprise Pachi returned and leaped ahead of Kisame, so Pein used Shinra Tensei to knock the body of the old man back.
Pachi dropped Samehada to Kisame who flowed with the stored chakra and swung at Gakido Pein, the hilt of the shaving blade extending in a lifelike whipping motion to launch itself at the chakra absorbing body. Shurado Pein charged to deal with Kisame while Pachi was flying back and Naruto's Senjutsu enhanced Moku Bunshin arrived in a flash and made four extra arms out of Mokuton to counter the taijutsu of the thick necked Pein as Gakido Pein was cut down and disappeared.
With his Senjutsu the bunshin landed an uppercut that launched Shurado Pein back before he swiftly weaved hand seals, "Suiten Hofutsu!" he declared as the air became thick with chakra, water condensing on the battlefield to protect wounded shinobi and carry them away from danger.
"Compassionate brat aren't you." Tendo Pein asked as A and Jiraiya tried to pincer him while he was on cooldown only to have to halt their attack as the three bodies on the battlefield disappeared and the Zetsu moved to retreat.
A wanted to chase the routing enemies but knew that was a bad idea, "Pull back to outer camps, we'll send extra Iryonin to the Kirigakure and Kumogakure war camps." Naruto ordered through his Moku Bunshin, "The Gokage should convene now that we're all here." he added, offering three left arms to Jiraiya, A, and Zabuza.
The Mizukage was freaked out to see Kisame up and wielding Samehada but the Rinnegan in his eyes and the fact Naruto was controlling him helped ease his worries so he took the hand of the bunshin along with a proud looking Sannin and an annoyed Raikage. A was annoyed at how difficult it was to land a solid blow to Pein and still didn't like taking orders from a child.
Onoki was the last to arrive as Gaara was already in the tower. Shikaku was permitted to sit on the council as a strategy advisor and Jiraiya was there to report on the mission, mostly a formality as Zabuza was also on the mission and Mizukage but none would turn away a true Sennin at a time like this. The sun had set by now and it was raining lightly in a way that reminded Zabuza of Mizu no Kuni.
"So, first real battle and we kill Kisame, capture Deidara, and send them running with their tails between their legs?" Onoki asked, "Sounds like this Obito was a fool to pretend to be Madara." he said with a shake of his head, "I should have known." he admonished himself since he had fought Madara Uchiha before.
Naruto frowned, Sasuke had explained the situation and given him a brief rundown on the Kamui but apparently Kakashi was taking the news that the man claiming to be Madara Uchiha was Obito according to Fugaku quite poorly. The undead Uchiha had apparently been completely defeated by Pein, but had revealed that the masked man was the KIA teammate of Kakashi.
The young Hokage wasn't sure what to make of the situation, apparently Kakashi's eye was also Kamui, as it was an ability that commonly doubled up according to the notes Sasuke had gathered from his dead fathers study. Zabuza just narrowed his eyes at Onoki, "We may have driven them off, but that tag team teleportation jutsu those two dojutsu bastards were doing, no offense Naruto, was on another level, we were barely keeping up at all thanks to Naruto." he explained, warning of how threatening Pein was.
Onoki snorted, "I don't need a reminder of his power, I remember the summit well enough in my aching back." he grumbled, "However this Uchiha, Obito, he's a weak link in the chain I'd say." he mused, "Plus he only has the one eye, so your teammate or sensei should be able to overcome his ability." he pointed out.
"Sasuke used too much chakra and a hyorogan pill, he'll be out of commission, and Kakashi-sensei didn't take the news about Obito as well as everyone else has." Naruto answered, "My eyes will be enough, they were Sasuke's originally and evolved from the Sharingan in the first place." he declared confidently, "With Kisame and Pachi I can meet three combat Rikudo Pein in power with Senjutsu and Samehada."
Zabuza frowned that the boy would keep using Kisame, but couldn't deny they needed the assistance on the front lines. Jiraiya could keep up with Pein well enough but no one else had the Senjutsu required, so Naruto splitting it up into two extra bodies should be enough.
"So where is Konan?" A asked suddenly, "We haven't seen that student of yours yet, Jiraiya?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
The Sannin frowned, "I don't know, she wasn't one for conflict if she could avoid it, but I imagine she's guarding the seventh Pein, the real one." he answered, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. Fukasaku and Shima had returned to Mount Myoboku and Naruto had cancelled the order for Kakashi and Gai since they couldn't risk the two being caught by all the Rikudo and Obito as well as an unknown element while the Hatake was reeling from the news about his thought to be dead teammate being with Akatsuki.
"Akatsuki is down to four members," A pointed out, "we ought to go on the offensive." he suggested and Zabuza nodded in agreement.
"Pachi and Kisame can't get too far from the village, there is a range limit, the limit can be extended by height and Senjutsu but we'd have to find them." Naruto explained, shutting down the plan and not wanting to risk anyone in the fight, "Sasuke will be good to go in three days, then I'll send him with a Moku Bunshin to deal with it. As soon as they do I can use Hiraishin to deliver the Gokage to get revenge on Pein for his attack on us." he stated his plan. A didn't like waiting that long or the fact that two Jinchuriki would be part of the main attack force.
Gaara and Onoki nodded in agreement but Zabuza was hesitant, "This war is to protect the Jinchuriki, I may have Ukataka back now but that doesn't mean-" he began rationally.
"We're not just living weapons." Naruto interrupted, "Gaara and I are Kage, we should use the power we have to protect our own." he said sternly, clearly not interested in backing down on this. Zabuza silently conceded but the Raikage frowned.
"The Kyubi no Yoko is regarded as immensely powerful, why not just fire a Bijudama at Pein the moment a bunshin sees him?" A suggested, wanting to be done with it already.
"Bunshin can't get that far out normally, but this one I made out of Senjutsu chakra also used the chakra absorbing power of the Rinnegan so it's become a bit uh, special." Naruto answered, explaining why only one bunshin would be going, "Also I don't think the seventh Pein will have any of these abilities, the real body will be vulnerable." he revealed, "While my Moku Bunshin is inhabited by Gakido I can't seem to use it." he explained.
"Just how much natural energy did you put into this thing?" Jiraiya asked, curious about what was so special about it. Naruto shrugging did not tell him anything except that it was probably more than he thought.
"Enough to last three days?" Onoki asked with a raised eyebrow, trying to recall if Hashirama had ever created such a bunshin.
"It can knead it's own chakra." Naruto answered, slightly amused at the surprised looks the others at the meeting gave him. Onoki wondered if the Shodaime had ever sent Moku Bunshin to meetings or if the ability for them to last like that was exclusive to the Rinnegan.
"So if we're keeping his Rikudo bodies busy, he can't use those abilities himself?" Gaara asked while A was still surprised the young blonde would reveal such a weakness even if it was to their benefit.
"A better question is why Pein hasn't used any other jutsu? He seems reliant on the Rinnegan." Zabuza spoke up, having noticed Naruto was perfectly capable of throwing ninjutsu around whether in bunshin or corpse puppet form.
"The more chakra I push into the body the more the chakra receivers heat up," Naruto answered, "I'm guessing some of the Rinnegan abilities must cost a lot of chakra and moving the chakra absorbed by Gakido probably takes time. I think since my Gakido is within that Senpo: Moku Bunshin I'll have less of a weakness than Pein in that regard." he explained, not actually looking very certain of his hypothesis.
"Ah, so by storing Senjutsu chakra within the bodies you're at a constant stamina advantage, plus you've got Samehada now so two of your own 'Rikudo' are capable of absorbing chakra to use with ninjutsu." Jiraiya mused, "I do wonder why not have his own Gakido use the chakra he steals for ninjutsu." he added with a confused frown.
"You trained him and you don't know?" A asked, annoyed with the lack of information they had on the enemy.
"I trained three kids in Amegakure to help them survive." Jiraiya answered, "Yahiko is clearly dead, which leaves Konan and Nagato, Konan had her own style and preferred shurikenjutsu while Nagato mastered any Seishitsu Henka easily. If this is Nagato then he has all Godai Kihon Seishitsu, which makes me wonder why he isn't using them." he explained, clearly bothered that he was apparently missing a piece of the puzzle.
"His focus is split too much!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly in realization, "Controlling multiple bodies is hard, I've only controlled a five at a time at this point and just using Mokuton and Suiton through bunshin that were partially on autopilot was giving me a migraine!" he explained with a grin, "His focus is super split so if we can get a surprise attack on his real body we can probably catch him off guard!"
Onoki and A nodded in agreement with that plan, and filed the information away for later just in case they became forced to fight Naruto himself at some point. However Onoki knew that against Senjutsu there wasn't a single person in his village who could stand up to the Uzumaki except for maybe himself, and at this point he was less certain about it being a sure thing.
On the way into the village the Tsuchikage had overheard civillians talking about the fight they'd seen with Deidara, apparently the current rain was a result of a ninjutsu performed by the Rokudaime Hokage. Kurotsuchi had confirmed that Naruto had used a wide scale Suiton no Jutsu that condensed all the water in the atmosphere around the village, through a Moku Bunshin that had also created a rather large sized tree on a building. Said tree was still shorter than the Hokage tower and mountain, but the power displayed by a single bunshin was enough to convince the Tsuchikage that his only hope against the young Hokage would be with the assistance of the other three Kage.
Zabuza was clearly fond of the boy despite how much he clearly disliked the use of Kisame's corpse, Gaara was apparently friends with him, which left A as the only one likely to side against the Hokage. Onoki determined that two vs three odds in favor of the blonde young Sennin was unwinnable and decided that he would turn the Raikage away should the man approach him about betraying Konohagakure once the war was done.
The Raikage himself was having similar thoughts, but was factoring in Killer B and Yugito to his plotting. However he knew he would benefit more from maintaining an alliance, he was no fool and didn't trust Onoki in the slightest who was likely to be his only ally should he start another war after Akatsuki was dealt with. Peace was simply the more valuable option to him while Naruto was young and naive, the boy could grow into a threat but politics could change in that time and remaining on his good side would be to the benefit of his village.
"Regardless," Zabuza spoke up, interrupting the plotting of the two most veteran Kage, "Kiri and Kumo suffered losses during that fight, according to Mei our troops are barely managing escaping from the enemy. We gave better than we got but against an unknown enemy we can't afford to fight a battle of attrition against these strange Zetsu bunshin." he pointed out, arguing against the idea of waiting for Sasuke to recover for a two man mission with a bunshin.
"Ah good," Orochimaru spoke up, startling the Kage except for Naruto and on seeing Pachi's corpse guarding the snake even Jiraiya relaxed a little, "you're already discussing such things. My troops managed to capture a couple of the bunshins and I must say they are curious things. Don't give a wit of information when alive and made almost entirely of Mokuton chakra." he explained with a grin to the Gokage, "If I may, do you happen to have more captured alive? If I had just three more I'm certain I could turn the tides entirely in our favor." he requested, "After all, I've heard this Uchiha they have isn't truly Madara, so I wonder how he got Hashirama's cells to make these 'Zetsu' bunshin." he explained.
Onoki frowned at the mention of the Shodaime Hokage somehow being involved now too and wondered just where Akatsuki had gotten something like that. A wondered if the Uchiha had done some grave robbing as he rubbed his chin, "My ninja captured one alive." the Raikage revealed hesitently, curious about what Orochimaru thought he could do with five of them.
"My shinobi captured four," Zabuza spoke up, "but what are you up to?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the Sannin no one trusted.
"It shouldn't be a long journey, but there is an old shrine that belonged to the Uzumaki once." Orochimaru began to answer, grabbing the attention of everyone with that, "These Zetsu bunshin are quite alive, alive enough for me to use them for Edo Tensei. If it's a battle of attrition you're worried about then a group of Kage level fighters leading your front lines should be useful?" he suggested with a smug smirk.
"My father is just as likely to rile up the dissidents into attacking Konoha than assisting me!" A exclaimed, "Even if he would, I'm not letting you mess with his remains for your damn jutsu!" he declared angrily, glaring at the smug Sannin.
"I profess the same concerns as Raikage-dono." Onoki said more calmly but with an intense glare aimed at the Sannin.
"I have no desire to see my father." Gaara said vehemently but simply, betraying no emotion with his face or body language.
Zabuza frowned, "I would speak to Yagura again." he said after a moment.
"Why five?" Naruto asked, "All four dead Hokage are within the Shinigami, you said they couldn't be Edo Tensei." he pointed out, "And what does a shrine have to do with this?" he added with narrowed eyes.
"The shrine contains a mask with special Fuinjutsu, to put it shortly I can bring back the Shodaime, Nidaime, Sandaime, and even the Yondaime Hokage to protect their homes from this seemingly unstoppable threat." Orochimaru negotiated with his smirk still in place, only widening at the look on Naruto's face as the boy realized one of those would be seeing his father again.
"Have my four then and bring me Yagura." Zabuza ordered, crossing his arms. He could see Naruto wanted to approve but was too hesitant to give the order.
"Return with them quickly." Naruto ordered, recovering and reminding himself he was Hokage.
"Four Hokage and a Mizukage it is." Orochimaru promised with a grin before turning to leave with Pachi guiding him towards the Kiri camp. Zabuza knew he'd have to get there after the meeting and approve the transfer of the prisoners.
"I still don't think we should wait." A said, "You show a lot of faith in this Sasuke kid, but I say send Kakashi along with your Moku Bunshin and a small strike team to help defend them if they get seen." he advised once Orochimaru was gone, "I recommend Darui for the team." he finished.
"No." Naruto answered calmly, "The team will need to be pure speed, the only one who could keep up is Gai so it's better to just wait for Sasuke and hope Kakashi-sensei is ready to face Obito by then." he explained, refusing the suggestion much to the clear annoyance of the Raikage.
Onoki frowned, "Your sentimentality should be shelved in times of war, boy." he lectured, viewing the decision to maintain defensive a mistake.
"I refuse." Naruto responded as he turned his still golden eyes on the old Tsuchikage, "I'll protect the camps until it's time to attack." he declared, "With my Senjutsu I have more stamina than Pein, that much is obvious, so he's only wasting his own time if he tries to win with attrition." he explained. Jiraiya had to admit silently that he was impressed with how the young blonde had taken to Senpo, but wondered why he kept drawing it in even during a meeting.
The reason was Naruto was lying about his intent to make it a battle of attrition. He'd already made a second Senpo: Moku Bunshin and sent the one who had utilized Gakido to scout for the enemy camp. He knew he was being unreasonable but he wanted to deal with Akatsuki himself, maybe it was the Rinnegan making him arrogant but he felt like he was the only one who could take Pein, and as a Konoha nukenin Obito was technically his responsibility as Hokage as well.
Konan was a fellow student of Jiraiya and Zetsu had some strange connection to the Shodaime Hokage, so they were his responsibility too as far as he was concerned. Naruto was grateful the other Kage had acknowledged him and that they were working to protect the remaining Jinchuriki, although Ukataka seemed even colder than Yugito, but the young Sennin decided he'd try to deal with this issue personally, or at least through an incredibly lifelike Moku Bunshin.
Gakido Naruto found a massive tree near the border towards Amegakure, it was raining even here, and frowned when he saw it was entirely fake. He crouched on the branch of a tree a distance from it and wondered how to approach it, knowing scouts from the Shinobi Rengogun would find this eventually regardless of his orders.
"Naruto, you're awfully foolish to scout by yourself." Obito scolded as the Moku Bunshin leaped away from him with his six arms in defensive positions.
"Do not be fooled, Uchiha." Pein scolded, the Chikushodo with the ability to Kuchiyose without blood or seals apparently with Obito. Naruto wondered when he'd been noticed as the bearer of the Rinnegan scolded Akatsuki's last Sharingan wielder, "Although he appears lifelike he is only a Moku Bunshin, capable only of Mokuton and the Kihon Seishitsu that are required for Mokuton." he lectured, remembering his battle earlier that day.
Obito's body language indicated his annoyance at the situation, "How the hell is a bunshin this far from Konohagakure no Sato?" he asked, "The real Naruto must not be far off, likely with a scouting party." he suggested.
The Moku Bunshin clasped his lower hands together in the snake seal and formed four handfuls of Moku-shuriken, "Before we start fighting, I have something to ask." the bunshin declared, "Obito Uchiha, you were before my time but I know you gave your eye to Kakashi-sensei. What happened to you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the masked Uchiha.
"I am no one." Obito answered scornfully, "I took Madara's name to carry out his will. If you want to use the name of a child who died long ago for me then so be it, but that name means nothing to me." he explained before launching fuma shuriken out of his eye at the Gakido using bunshin with Kamui, uncaring of using lethal blows against a bunshin.
Four handfuls of four Moku-shuriken coated with Futon chakra sliced through the pair of fuma shuriken, startling Pein that they were coated with Futon chakra. The Moku Bunshin swiftly weaved three sets of hand seals that startled Pein further, "Senpo: Raisuiryudan no Fujin!" the bunshin declared as he formed an electrified water dragon out of the rain in the air and launched it roiling at the Akatsuki with a blast of Futon chakra.
"Kuchiyose!" Pein called his Gakido as Obito used Kamui to avoid the attack and Gakido Pein absorbed the roiling surge of electrified water, only to be startled again as the rain stopped falling around them and started floating.
"Suiten Hofutsu." Naruto's bunshin intoned, his green Rinnegan glaring down Gakido Pein as he struggled to think of a way to deal with him. A corpse that could absorb chakra had a distinct advantage over a bunshin that could absorb chakra.
Naruto knew if the fighting actually got serious the battle would be noticed and reinforcements would be on the way. He couldn't allow that so his bunshin suddenly disappeared in a burst of speed with shunshin, the Moku Bunshin charging towards the massive tree, able to see it wasn't a natural tree nor was it Mokuton, which left him wondering what it was exactly.
Pein and Obito moved to give chase and the forest moved to stop them. Obito went through them without issue but when Gakido Pein tried to remove their chakra they only stopped moving and remained in their way, forcing Chikushodo Pein to call Shurado Pein with Kuchiyose so they could follow.
The water in the air seemed intent on stopping Pein and Obito as well and the Uchiha became worried about how powerful Naruto was becoming if a bunshin could seem like a force of nature. The two Akatsuki got the impression of fighting against a spirit of nature itself with the Suiten Hofutsu combined with the Mokuton defense, an impression that amused Pein due to his own views of himself.
Soon enough however the green light in the eyes of the bunshin dimmed to the standard light purple as his Senjutsu ran out from the intense jutsu he was doing, which allowed Pein to catch up, "Kuchiyose." Chikushodo Pein intoned to call Tendo Pein who dragged the Moku Bunshin back towards him with Bansho Ten'in.
Naruto had hoped to get closer to the real Pein, but supposed this was close enough to start. Kisame appeared with Hiraishin, halting the momentum of the Moku Bunshin with his corpse body, gold Rinnegan glowing in his head and Samehada in his hands swinging through the air at Gakido Pein.
"Kuchiyose!" Chikushodo Pein called Shurado Pein frantically, the thick necked corpse halting Samehada with his left arms, but the Senjutsu enhanced corpse of Kisame was able to shave through two of them and began shaving the third before he was forced to defend against a lashing metal blade tail from the back of Shurado Pein. Samehada blocked the metal without issue and Kisame swung again as the other three Pein leaped back and Shurado Pein ducked the swing before Naruto had Kisame leap back to stand with his Moku Bunshin.
"Strange that Samehada should side with you. Senjutsu is truly fascinating." Pein mused and reminded Naruto that for all his talk of being a god only one of them had Senjutsu, and it was the younger Rinnegan wielder who was capable of both Rikudo no Jutsu and Senjutsu.
The young blonde didn't respond to Pein verbally as the Moku Bunshin created four chakra receivers in each hand, then threw the twenty four Kuroikui across the battlefield to be caught by his Seishitsu Henka. Pein prepared to defend himself and was unsurprised when Kisame flashed between two points and swung Samehada at a distance, the hilt of the weapon extending to whip out at Gakido Pein.
"Shinra Tensei." Pein intoned calmly.