Chapter 19

"Sev?" Hari asked cautiously, refusing to believe the truth laid bare before him. Severus turned fully to face them. His brows were knotted in confusion, perhaps wondering why they were all here. He walked closer to them. "What are you doing here?" The soft baritone made Hari shiver. So long, too long. Something clogged his throat and he was hot all over. He strengthened his resolve and came closer to the man, eyes not leaving his face. His face softened at something he saw on his own. The shock, or maybe the hope. The rage he could feel swirling inside, the terror that this was all a dream. The joy that solidified with each step he took. With a sob he embraced the man.

Severus had no choice but to drop the firewood and encircle his arms around the smaller male, lest they both fall and get muddy. "I see I've been missed. Couldn't you go a single year without me to coddle you?" "You senseless, tactless, heartless man. How could you?" Hari choked, fists tightening on the other's chest. Severus only hummed and stared at the rest of the group. Naruto was glaring as if all this was his fault, Sasuke's look of betrayal wasn't very reassuring either. Sai was smiling as always and Kakashi…His eyes narrowed at the silverette. He winced and rubbed the back of his head. "Why don't we all head inside. I was about to make a cup of tea." Severus suggested. Hari nodded and stepped back.

Once they were all inside and warmed up it was time for some serious discussions. Severus was the one to start. "Kakashi informed me one day that I might be a target for assassination. As such the both of us devised a plan to save my life. I replaced myself with an advanced golem, while the real me escaped the village and came to this place. The golem had all my memories and abilities. Kakashi here would investigate the circumstances behind my 'death' and report to me through a two way mirror every fortnight. Once the perpetrator is found I would have the chance to come back." Naruto scoffed. "Gee, there are so many holes in that plan I could fly the whole of Konoha through it." Severus frowned. "I know, but it was the only way to ensure my life without painting a target on my back. I trust Kakashi to be competent enough to clear my name." "Well, he wasn't getting anywhere. Hari-san here was more efficient in that department." Sai commented.

Severus raised an eyebrow, turning his attention to the raven. "Hari? I thought Kakashi never told anyone of our suspicions." Hari's head drooped in shame. "I knew something was wrong, so I took things into my own hands." This made Severus all the more curious and he encouraged Hari to continue. "As I told everyone, I'm not too sure of the finer details but I can tell you this. Due to my frustration at the situation something in me awakened to help me dig out the truth. He was like a second personality, he was bent to find out what happened by any means necessary and exact some revenge. I got scared of what I was becoming so he would suppress my memories so I would act as normal as I can. When he took over, he would follow the leads he has then he would kill anyone he questioned. I think he did that so no one would tattle as well as to satisfy his bloodthirsty nature. He would leave no evidence of who he…I am. Sai eventually found out about these nightly escapades but he didn't tell anyone. That is until the day I killed Utatane Koharu. She's the one who arranged for you to be killed. Once the deed was done the other me vanished, leaving me to deal with the mess."

Severus was shocked. All this happened because he chose to safeguard his life without even thinking about the consequences of that decision. Sai picked up where Hari left off. "Earlier on the same day Koharu-sama died the investigators of the murders came to Kakashi's apartment to question us about Hari-san. We knew then that it was time to vanish or Hari would be arrested. We left immediately." The potions master ran a hand over his face. "Are you sure no one followed you here?" Most of them nodded while Kakashi eye-smiled. "I'm hurt, Severus-san. Don't you have any confidence in my abilities?" Severus just ignored him making the Jonin face-plant.

"I've been wondering why none of us were informed of your plan." Naruto questioned. Severus answered "Safety in ignorance. Had you known, you may not have acted naturally. Though now I'm questioning that logic given the results." Hari still wasn't looking at him so Severus took his hand in his. It made Hari's shoulders relax visibly. "No, it was a good call. You just never expected things to unfold the way they did." Naruto countered, relaxing in his seat. Sasuke drank some tea. "And what is your story, Naruto?" Everyone perked up at the question and Naruto found himself the center of attention.

He made an effort not to react outwardly. "Itachi and I are working on a plan to take down Akatsuki." Hari shot to his feet in shock. "T-That's dangerous!" Naruto agreed while Severus pulled Hari to sit back down. The worried look on Hari's face didn't change. Sasuke kept his expression carefully blank. He wouldn't say anything until he got the full story. Naruto sighed. "I know, yet I'm doing it anyway. This is important. Akatsuki's goal is to bring peace to the world. Now, this is where it gets interesting. There are two leaders in Akatsuki; the known leader Pein and the one pulling strings behind the scenes, Uchiha Obito."

Kakashi stiffened in shock, the cup in his hands shattering and spilling tea all over his lap. Severus was quick to vanish the mess but Kakashi didn't seem to notice. "Obito is dead." He stated in a dead voice. Naruto shook his head. "No, he survived. I assume he was found by Uchiha Madara and groomed to be his successor, seeing as he's masquerading as Madara and using his name." "Then why didn't he come back home? If Obito was alive, he would come back to Konoha." The silverette protested. "Because he was convinced not to. I don't know why but he chose to fight for his twisted version of world peace with Akatsuki by his side." Kakashi had no more words for that, battling his own emotions at this revelation.

"Pein's vision for world peace was understanding through shared pain. He would gather all the bijuu and use them to start a war. The nations would band together to defeat a common enemy or they would fall one by one, either way they would all know the pain of loss and that would supposedly dissuade them from starting any more feuds. Should they happen to forget this shared peace the weapon would be used again out of ignorance, then again and again." "Thinking of it in a tight box it makes sense. I assume this Pein guy suffered the effects of war." Sai said. Naruto nodded. "Obito on the other hand wants to put the whole world under a strong genjutsu, Infinite Tsukuyomi. It would induce fantasies of the individual's ideal life while they sleep in a dream forever." He paused so everyone could take this in. "He needs the combined power of the bijuu to cast the jutsu, hence why he sided with Akatsuki. He tricked Pein into believing this whole peace through shared pain shit."

"Many junchuriki have disappeared over the years. Do you plan on protecting the few remaining vessels?" Kakashi asked in a mumble, still shaken. "Oh no, that's a lost cause. We've discovered that Pain has absorbed seven bijuu already, and assuming the rumors of the Lightning Country Kage's younger brother disappearing it's safe to conclude the eight tails has been taken too." Their eyes widened in horror. "Such strength. How is he even able to hold it? Can we defeat such an opponent?" Kakashi wondered. Naruto was also concerned about this. "We have no choice but to face him. I've come up with some contingencies but I'm not certain they would hold up."

"And you planned to take him on alone?" Sasuke questioned angrily. "I'm not alone. Itachi as well as Pein himself and some of his subordinates." "That's not enough!" Sasuke snapped. "Sasuke's right. You'd need a whole nation of powerful shinobi to defeat the power of the bijuu." Kakashi put in. Naruto folded his arms. "It's either we try or the world pays for it." "Then we'll help." Hari stated with finality. The look in his eyes brooked no argument. The blonde pursed his lips. "There's no way you're facing Uchiha. But!" Hari's mouth snapped shut at the exclamation. "If you insist on joining I'd need your magic to assist." "How?" Severus asked. "I plan to have a barrier surrounding us and Obito so he cannot escape using kamui." "Kamui?" Sai asked. Sasuke explained. "It's one of the mangekyou sharingan's abilities. Mangekyou is the more advanced form of the sharingan. The others I know of are tsukuyomi which is a powerful genjutsu, amaterasu which produces an eternal flame that can burn anything and susanoo, a warrior summoned to protect and fight for its user. Kamui gives one the ability to travel through a pocket dimension, become intangible or transport others into kamui's dimension."

Severus hummed. "What difference does it make if he can't escape, he's still overpowered." "One of the contingencies I made is meant to suppress the output of demonic chakra." This got their attention. "I based this from my own seal. With enough power it can completely suppress the bijuu in Obito as well as myself. It would make him weaker." "That would require a massive amount of energy. Just making the seal killed the Yondaime." Kakashi said. "In fact, how will you power the seal that traps Obito?" "I'll use ambient chakra to sustain it. I'm certain four Jonin level shinobi can activate it without losing the capacity to fight." "That won't be enough." Hari stated after some mental calculation. "Perhaps the original seal itself wouldn't have taken as much but add the suppressing seal…It would kill whoever activates it." "Not even Kurama would be enough?" Hari thought about it then said hesitantly. "I can't be certain. I do think you should think of something else."

Naruto let out a breath. Severus suggested "Why don't we use the chakra-enhancing potion?" "I thought that thing didn't work." Severus waved Naruto's concerns away. "That was a fib I made up. I wasn't going to let the general population possess such a formidable potion." Hari had a smug face now. "Oh, I did one better Sev." "Oh, the chakra booster." Sasuke remembered. "Yep. It would increase the user's chakra output ten times, with no drawback other than chakra exhaustion." Severus' jaw dropped at the potion's effects. "How did you come up with such a concoction? How long does it last?" Here Hari pouted. "Around six to eight minutes." "It's long enough to activate the seal." Naruto cut in before the two could discuss the potion further.

"Once the seal is activated it'll be vulnerable to interferences that could disrupt it. We had tentatively planned to have one of us watching out for that but it wouldn't be feasible. So I want Hari to erect a ward to protect the net sealing matrix." "I can do that." Hari agreed. Severus stood to stretch his arms. "Since that seems to be all for now I have something to say." Before anyone could react he spun to deliver a jaw-breaking punch to Kakashi, who flew from his seat to impact the nearest wall. He smirked in satisfaction. "That was for not telling me about the serial killer or Hari's condition as soon as you found out." Kakashi only groaned. With a gasp Hari and Sasuke went to help the poor man. Naruto chuckled and Sai hid his smile behind his cup. "Naruto, come help me with lunch." Naruto went to do as told, dragging Sai with him.

~Scene Change~

A week found the newly minted traitors in the company of Akatsuki's own traitorous bunch. "What a strange mix you've brought, un." Deidara commented, eyeing them dubiously. Kakashi was a great addition and Itachi's brother couldn't be such a monumental failure, but the rest he wasn't certain about. Pein had his usual blank look. "It's nice to finally meet you. Naruto-kun had…good things to say about you." Naruto bit his cheek to not comment about that. 'Are you trying to get on their good side?' "I believe Naruto-kun has already hashed out most of the plan?" At their nods he continued. "In that case we need to strengthen team work." "That again?" Hidan complained. He was polishing his scythe, careful not to nick his fingers. He was itching to kill something but since he had captured his assigned bijuu he hadn't had a chance to. His hands twitched at the very thought and he almost chopped his fingers off on the sharp blade. He cursed at the deep cuts which almost reached the bone.

"I agree. We've done nothing but strategic team exercises for the past month." Deidara said. Itachi, who sat on a large boulder, said "You lost to Naruto-kun while fighting together the other day, imagine what Madara could do to you." "Obito, you mean." Sai corrected. His fixed smile rivaled Itachi's blank expression and watching them stare at each other made many uncomfortable. Finally, Itachi broke the staring match. "Didn't you tell them?" Naruto coughed nervously. "Right, I forgot to mention. Obito is highly likely to use a forbidden technique to revive Madara, so we'd have to fight him too."

Kakashi choked on his spit at that. "What?!" Hari, who was in the process of healing Hidan's fingers, jerked around at the commotion and pulled at the undead shinobi's fingers in the process. Hidan screamed and cursed at the pain, more blood spurting from the wound. Hari apologized profusely, letting him go so Hidan could cradle his hand. As the bearer coaxed Hidan to trust him again Sasuke asked "How could you forget that detail?" Naruto had no answer. "This is bad." Itachi hopped down from his perch. "This is no time to panic. We have work to do." "Right as always, Itachi-kun." Konan said. She had been silently observing them until now. She pointed a finger at Hari who had healed Hidan's injury. "I want to see what you can do. Fight me."

"Eh?!" Hari exclaimed, perplexed. Pein seemed to agree. "I need to see what you can do too. You don't look fit to join us." Hari's eye twitched in affront. "Hari has his own secrets. I think you should reveal yours too, Pein-sama." Konan stiffened at the almost mocking request. She made to give someone a tongue lashing when Pein stopped her. "I believe you're right. If we are to win this we should know each other's abilities."

~Scene Change~

Hari was horrified. The man before him looked to be ready to draw his last breath. He was emaciated and the only thing that seemed to be keeping him alive was the machine holding him up. There were dark rods, the same embedded into Pein's flesh, protruding from his back. Purple ringed eyes stared at the assembled group. "This is my true form. The rest are only puppets." He rasped. Konan stood protectively by the man, who had introduced himself as Nagato. The crammed cave didn't make the situation any better. "Manifesting the rinnegan in multiple bodies and controlling them has reduced me to this state, and using my dojutsu's abilities degrades me even further."

Sasuke had solemn eyes, remembering the price that had to be paid to acquire the mangekyou sharingan. "A heavy penalty for such a strong eye technique." Pein nodded. "The price is worth paying if I achieve my goal in the end." A wracking cough tore from him and for a few long seconds they had to endure the sound. Hidan and Deidara were quiet for once. Hari was concerned. "Isn't there any way of restoring your condition?" "Any attempts at healing are quickly reversed, as Konan-chan would attest." Hari turned to Severus. "We can do something, right? If anything it would increase our chances. Severus shrugged. "Only phoenix tears can help him on time for the battle, if healing him is even possible. My potions aren't good enough for this." Hari bit his lip in silence.

"Now, I believe you have a match planned, Konan-chan." Nagato reminded. The blue-haired woman nodded. With this lighter topic in mind Deidara spoke up. "That's not fair, un. The pipsqueak won't last a second." Hari glared at the taunt. "I'm not weak." He hissed. The blonde stepped back at the vitriol. Hidan scoffed. "You look like a light breeze could bawl you over." "Right, let's fight Konan-san." Hari said with vengeance in mind. He'd show them.

Everyone gathered in the training arena where the group had gathered before. Pein stood at the center with Konan and Hari on opposite sides. "This is a friendly spar, everything is allowed as long as you don't kill your opponent and the match ends once one or both of you are unable to continue. Ready, hajime!" He jumped out of the arena. Hari had settled into a dueling stance, waiting for Konan to make her move. When she did nothing after a minute he decided to start. He threw his hand forward. "Bombarda.' He incanted. The spell shot from his hand in the blink of an eye. The woman dodged to the side so the spell impacted a tree behind her. Many jaws dropped when the tree was utterly shredded. Konan ducked to avoid the many splintered coming her way. She ran towards Hari to engage the man.

Hari was no slouch at hand-to-hand combat however, especially for Konan who was not taijutsu oriented. He blocked the jabs at his torso, hands flying faster and faster at the increasingly quick attacks. One managed to fly past his guard. A strike at his shoulder made him skid back a few paces. He flipped back to avoid the following kick. Each touch of his hands on the ground released a spell. The floor trembled and vines shot out of the ground. Konan had to stop her advances to avoid the plants. She scattered into paper, which folded into shuriken and proceeded to shred the vines to pieces. She reformed in midair, great paper wings holding her aloft. She batted her wings sending folds of paper shooting at Hari.

Hari jumped from place to place dodging the unconventional weapons which embedded themselves in the ground. A few managed to nick his skin and papercuts littered his skin once the volley ended. "Exorsus Sagitta." Arrows materialized around Hari and shot at Konan. While she was distracted with them he went through some hand seals. "Water Style: Mini typhoon." Moisture gathered above him and started spinning rapidly, picking up wind along with it. Deidara leaned forward excitedly. "I've never seen that technique." "That's because I made it." Naruto said with a small smile. Hari sent the technique at Konan. Konan went through her own hand seals. "Wind Style: Great breakthrough." A wall of wind scattered the water vortex. Even before the wind settled she shot forward. Her kunai met Hari's and sparks flew between them. Hari conjured another kunai to gain some sort of advantage. All he sliced through was paper, which flooded around him. He yelped in surprise. "Protego! Everte statum." A barrier glowed blue as the paper impacted it. It vanished seconds later and the paper was pushed back a distance. It gave Hari breathing room as Konan assembled herself once more.

"You're good." Konan stated, her expression blank. "You're not good enough for me however." She pulsed her chakra and Hari noticed too late the paper bombs placed strategically around him. They went off simultaneously, surrounding the place in smoke. "Oh no." Sasuke muttered, eyebrows creased. The smoke died down to reveal Hari just beginning to drag himself to his feet. He had many burnt patches on his skin. Clearly the exploding tags were low grade otherwise there would be nothing left of him. He bared his teeth and screamed. "Incendio tria!" Flames erupted around him and moved to attack the woman. They were so hot she felt herself become more buoyant. She brought her wings down and shot up in the blink of an eye.

Hari raised his arms and the flames followed his command. They rose up along with her, following her movements. She was starting to sweat. Hari poured more power into the spell and if gained more volume and speed. Konan covered herself with her wings as the flames engulfed her. Hari closed his fist and the flames collided on her form as if drawn there by gravity. They converged in white light then exploded outward. Those who didn't ground themselves somehow were thrown back a bit by the explosion. Hari ended up on his back, groaning. His body hurt. He took a moment to internalize his magic and heal the burns.

When he focused back on his surroundings Konan was nowhere to be seen. He got up quickly and looked around in mild panic. Surely he didn't kill the S-class criminal. "Homenum revelio." A ping registered at the back of his mind and he vaulted forward. A large paper shuriken embedded into the ground he was standing on. "This is intense. What happened to friendly duel?" Deidara asked, picking himself from the floor. Pein was concentrating on the fight. "Hari-san lost his cool there." Sai said. Severus was watching silently.

Konan had burnt patches on her body which were peeling off like burnt paper and being replaced by clean sheets. "Avis Oppugno. " The conjured ravens flocked Konan. She made hand seals. "Fire Style: Great fireball technique." The technique burnt the birds to cinders. Hari had risen up into the air with ascendio and easily flowed around the flames. He delivered a chakra-enhanced kick to Konan's side. He followed that with a palm strike to her chest so she spat a bit of blood. Gravity took hold of him and he began descending. A spell slowed him down so he landed safely. His breath came in labored pants. He crossed his hands in front of himself just as Konan appeared to punch him in the face. He grabbed the next punch but Konan used the other hand to stab at his shoulder. He bit off a scream and vaulted her over his shoulder to slam on the ground.

Konan scattered in a whirlwind of paper so Hari jumped back. His body was trembling with exhaustion. He grabbed his injured shoulder, waiting for his opponent to appear again. He made hand seals. "Storm Style: Thunderclap." Clouds materialized above them both. He touched the ground and vines shot up once more to trap Konan. As soon as she scattered the vines would follow her, distracting her. The clouds churned and thunder rumbled. Hari gestured downward. Bolts of lightning shot downward to the panicking woman. She disassembled into sheets of paper to try to avoid the technique. The air around the lightning strikes was so hot that the paper was burning. She reformed to preserve chakra, choosing to avoid the flashes the old fashioned way. Unlike real lightning the technique was slow enough to avoid if barely.

The technique left Hari on a knee, gasping for breath. Konan looked down on him from her place above ground. "You've lost, Hari-san." "I'm not done yet." Hari gritted through clenched teeth. His eyes gained a purple sheen. He was low on chakra and magic, but there was no way they were losing. He took a deep breath and gathered his strength and concentration. A moment later his eyes snapped open to reveal fully purple irises. "Fiendfyre!" the word flowed from his mouth and it was as if the world paused just for this moment.

Fire erupted in front of him, towering up and above Konan's shocked form. She thought the fire was similar to the one she avoided previously but boy was she wrong. A claw formed in the flames and the ground shook when it touched down. Hari screamed and the head of a lion made of fire appeared to roar in fury. The body of a large serpent snaked into being next to the lion, another cat-like creature appeared in the fire. Hari seemed to be trembling with the effort of holding back the spell. He was losing spectacularly because the large cats stomped forward, nipping at each other as if arguing which would be the first to destroy the human.

Severus felt dread and panic hold him in a vice. "Konan, get away from the fire! DON'T LET IT TOUCH YOU!" He shouted. Naruto felt fear grip him. Never had he ever seen Severus so frantic. Sasuke seemed to think the same thing because he grabbed his arm in fright. "Fuck, fuck, fucking shit. Nobody move. If the fire makes it this way, run!" The potions master vaulted over the low concrete barrier and ran toward the fighting pair.

Hari buckled to the floor just as he lost control and consciousness. The creatures surged forward now free of their master's control. The large snake that looked a lot like a basilisk flittered towards Konan, fangs bared. Shaking herself from her fear Konan fled as fast as she could from the creature. Even with her wings beating furiously she could almost feel the snake nipping at her heals. She looked back at the visage of the creature, which now had two heads, made her renew her efforts to avoid it. Fire sprouted in the surrounding forestry and she could see the flora turn to ash in almost an instant. The flames were consuming everything in their path, even the air around it so Konan could barely breathe.

Severus reached Hari just in time as the lion had turned to consume him. He grabbed him and apparated to another clearing. Its eyes followed them and it advanced. Severus was in full panic mode. The incantation to suppress fiendfyre was long and needed precious time to cast. He was a sitting duck here. He apparated once more to the group. He placed the man on the ground and stood to face the creatures, the lion and panther now advancing slowly as if taunting them, knowing they couldn't defeat it.

Severus raised his wand. "Glacius tria!" he exclaimed, flicking the wand upward. An ice wall shot up from the ground towering above even the fiendfyre and stretching the length of the arena. Then another, and another until five ice walls separated them. The creatures had already shattered the first two walls and were quickly working on the third. Severus was sweating at the magic expended. "What are those things?!" Hidan asked in awe. "Fiendfyre, a spell that summons inextinguishable flames from hell itself." Deidara shuddered at the notion. "They take a lot of magic to summon and are extremely difficult to control hence why Hari passed out. The only way to banish it is by another spell, but it takes time to cast." The fifth wall broke to pieces and the creatures stepped forward. Severus cursed, ready to apparate with Naruto and Sasuke.

Pein raised a hand. "Shinra tensei." Gravity obeyed his command and pushed backward at the fire. The creatures hissed when the concussive force slammed into them. They tumbled back with the technique but didn't go very far. They seemed all the more furious as they pounced forward. This time Pein put much more force into the technique. The fire scattered on an invisible wall pushing them back a bit further. It was taking precious moments for them to gather once more. "We'll give you time, Severus-san." Pein stated. Deidara hopped onto a clay bird he just made and started soaring up and toward the fire. "Yeah, un. Let us handle it." His eyes were shining with tears at the beauty unfolding in front of him. "Nothing rivals my art!" he shouted, eager to show up these creatures.

Hidan went to follow the blonde but was held back by Naruto. "None of your skills will help here. Sit this one out or there'll be nothing left of you to regenerate." He said and went out to halt the beasts instead. Kakashi followed him. Hidan was left cursing up a storm but a look from Pein made him stay in place. Sasuke cradled Hari's form. "He's just unconscious." Severus assured and started moving his wand in complex patterns, muttering under his breath. He had to work quickly or someone would die. Already he could feel air supply shortening as the flames consumed it, skin sweating at the intense heat. Sai stayed with the three, determined to protect Hari but not knowing how. His hand tightened on the his ink brush with his beast scroll on the other, ready to draw ink creatures to take Hari as far away from this place as possible.

Staying in the forest was a bad idea; Konan decided coughing at the dense smoke surrounding her. She was still flying at top speed to avoid the snake, using bits of paper flying ahead to navigate. At this foresight she shot upward and above the canopy. The beast rose to meet her, opening its maw to swallow her whole. She shunshinned a bit further just as the snake clamped its jaws where she had previously been. The fires were now consuming most of the forest within half a mile. She contemplated flying further up but she was already short of breath. "Water Style: Great typhoon!" She whipped her head to see Naruto completing the technique. She wondered if the jutsu would do any good with something so big, so all-consuming. She was scared.

Water converged around the creature, spinning rapidly and forming a vortex of water and air. It roared in anger as some of its flames were whipped around and suppressed by the tornado of water. Konan breathed easier as some of the heat died down, yet the creature wasn't dying. She flew to Naruto who was holding up the jutsu. Kakashi summoned his own wind to suppress the fire even further. His sharingan was spinning rapidly trying to make sense of the creature from hell. The only thing he could see was a vacuum, no chakra was present in the creature's vicinity other than his and Naruto's. "Thank you." Konan uttered, and she meant it. Naruto nodded. "Do you have any jutsu that can help?" She shook her head negatively. "I could use my paper to try patting it out like I'd do with normal fire but I'm out of chakra." "Then get out of here." He said. She could only nod eager to get away from the beast.

An explosion rocked the ground and them stumble. Off to the side she saw the lion disperse into formless flames then rapidly coalesce back into the creature again. It roared up at the laughing Deidara soaring ahead. A section of the lion shot up like another limb to catch him. He shouted in surprise and swerved to the side, barely avoiding what looked like an arm. The fire surged until a dragon formed out of the fire. It focused its attention on an awed Deidara. It took a deep breath and released a torrent of fire. "Hell?!" Deidara screamed, zooming out of the fire's path, the dragon following closely at his tail. "Get it away from me!" he shouted, throwing as many C3's at the creature to slow it down. It seemed to make the flames its own every time the explosions disturbed it.

Kakashi cursed when the serpent finally burnt away all the water surrounding it, chakra included. It seemed to grow bigger for it. 'Kurama, you're up.' Naruto notified his demonic friend. Kurama grumbled sleepily but relinquished his power. Naruto's eyes became red and slitted as his canines grew longer and his whisker marks became more pronounced. "Wind Style: Shock wave!" he brought his hands together in a clap. A shockwave of wind barreled at the fire creature, pushing it back and dispersing it momentarily. "Water Style: Water prison technique." With these hand seals from Kakashi water rose up to rotate around the fire in the form of a spherical water prison. He kept putting more chakra in it until it was burnt through not even leaving much steam. They continued to hurl wind and water techniques at the fire, hoping Severus would finish quickly.

Konan had reached Pein's side, where she believed she was the safest. His cloak was singed in places from a close call due to the five second resting time. He had a look of concentration on his face as he kept on using shinra tensei. He had already lost his current Preta path after an attempt to absorb the beast's chakra, forgetting it wasn't a chakra construct. The way it burnt to cinders within seconds even with all the failsafes it had to prevent such destruction horrified Nagato who was miles away. Konan felt so useless standing there and watching her friend hold back these creatures alone. Itachi's eye was bleeding as he summoned amaterasu again. The godly black flame was much harder for the creatures to consume and could bar the hellish flames from progressing. Given that, it was exhausting to keep them up and when he stopped controlling them the creatures would consume the black flame faster.

Suddenly there was a loud crack as a tear in space appeared. It started sucking in anything made of fire, from the flames burning the forest to the hellish creatures. The snake was the first to go, being sucked into the rip tail first, snapping and hissing all the way. The lion and other cat dug its claws into the ground, leaving giant furrows as they were dragged in. The dragon was too high up to be affected immediately. Its jaws opened to snap around Deidara but it closed its mouth shy of the blonde as the pulling force halted its advances. Deidara opened his eyes to see the dragon being dragged back to the rip in space. It roared in fury as it was force in, spitting out fire which was drawn back towards it. Eventually it disappeared into the rip. The disturbance in space shut again with another ear splitting crack and once it closed a ripple of energy was sent out, putting out all the fires burning around them. Silence settled in the area.

Severus collapsed to his knees, heaving for breath. Moments later he threw up to the side. He was shaking at the strain and being exposed to such dark magic. The theory that only light magic can defeat dark magic was a farce, the spell he just performed was a darker spell than he had ever cast before and it affected his core. He would need time to recover from this. He looked up, wiping his lips only for his eyes to connect with Pein's rinnegan. The Deva path nodded in gratitude and he nodded back. He sat fully on the ground, away from his mess not even bothering to vanish it. A breeze was blowing east, taking most of the smoke with it. Deidara laughed hysterically from his place up high, surprised he was still alive. Naruto let Kyuubi's power settle back within him, approaching Severus. Konan smiled. It was over. Now if only they could safely use this power against Obito and Madara.

AN: Two chapters in one day; you lucky dog. An early xmas present from me. I'm impressed by this one's length, considering it was done in one day. I'm so proud of this chapter, I hope it impressed. I'm in tears, waaah! Anyway, if you think I should improve anything you're free to review. Your opinion will be valued, like I value my cat (I'd honestly kill anyone who dares to harm my precious). This is just a prelude to the upcoming battle so this is currently the standard. RR please.