Seven Days
So let's get one thing straight;
Senjutsu is not the same thing as sage mode.
Sage chakra is a special type of chakra that surrounds and penetrates all living things. The sage creatures that many ninja form summoning contracts with are made out of the stuff. Normal ninja will never be able to actually interact with sage chakra, though, because just detecting it requires you to develop a whole other sense, like teaching a blind person to see. The only known way to access sage chakra is to train with groups of sage creatures, who, if they trust you enough to reverse summon you back to their realm, can teach you through various methods how to become attuned to it.
Once trained, sages must absorb sage chakra from the environment, which takes a period of long minutes to short seconds of complete inactivity, time depending on the skill of the sage. (Minato here, this is why I rarely ever use this thing; my strategy usually involves killing everyone so quick I don't have time to charge it. Using shadow clones is a great way to do so without leaving yourself vulnerable, though.)
Now, Senjutsu is the blanket term for any sage techniques. Sage chakra can be used to buff existing technique and give them special effects, or on entirely new techniques such as the toad sage's 'frog kata' which gives them a bonus forcefield and an increased reach. Senjutsu by definition is really hard for normal ninja to deal with, because a) it's completely undetectable to them, b) if they absorb it they'll likely turn into an animal or statue, c) it can be used to counteract traditional elemental advantages, and because it provides a fuckton of other bonuses. Ninja who can use Senjutsu can't necessarily use Sage mode, however, as that ability is very exhaustive and requires exceptional physical condition. (Jiraiya here, a bootleg version of this power can be used by those of less sound body by summoning in your Sage creature friends and having them gather sage chakra for you while you fight. Downside is it's sloppier, harder to use the chakra for anything except physical enhancement, and you look hella ugly while doing it.)
'Sage mode' is the name of a power which involves using sage chakra to directly bolster your own body. It drastically increases strength, speed, durability and regeneration, but more importantly it gives you a perfect sense of everything around you. Blind, deaf, noseless and numb, you'll still know exactly where everything is (including chakra) and be able to react accordingly. That improved sense also turns inward, allowing you a better understanding of your own body so as to take better advantage of the previously described increased physical prowess. Plus you're effectively immune to any genjutsu that isn't unblockable.
The only downside is that this burns sage chakra at a ridiculous rate, but trust me, this will be the most amazing half a minute you've ever experienced. Which, incidentally, was what I told my wife the other night. Hehehe...
Tl;dr: it's super hard to get but it makes you way better at literally everything.
-Excerpt from On Senjutsu by Hashirama Senju, scribbles by assorted.
The area around Hidden Rain was admittedly kinda fucked up. To cut a long story short, some forestland had been very quickly renovated into a new extension to the lake.
Crashing down onto the surface of that lake was Jiraiya of the Sannin, or at least, about 90% of him. The other 10%, his right arm, plopped into the water a few metres to his left and sunk quite quickly into the depths.
The rapidly waning power of his Sage mode (now that Ma and Pa had been blasted back into mount Myoboku) was enough to heal over the wound, but not enough to grow him a new arm. Well, at least I can tell Tsunade I lost weight! Hehehe...
...fuck.
Groaning, he forced himself to his feet, turning to look at his opponent.
A young man with orange hair and purple eyes slowly flew downwards to touch onto the water's surface, looking across at him.
"Again, you come to Rain country claiming to be peaceful." Pain said, calmly. "Again, you bring only chaos."
"So I'm right, then." Jiraiya replied. "You are Nagato. Neither of the others were ever that pretentiously philosophical...which means that Yahiko is dead, then."
Pain nodded, sadly. "He was killed, by Hanzo the Salamander. I use his body as the Deva path of Pain to honour his legacy."
"Sounds creepy, but go off I guess." Jiraiya muttered, under his breath. "I'm sorry about that. Our team couldn't kill him back when we were last in Rain."
"You were too weak to enforce your will upon the world." Pain replied, solemnly. "I was not."
"But you weren't strong enough to save your friend?" Jiraiya asked.
"No." Pain lowered his head. "I was not. I assure you I will not make that mistake again."
Oh, great. He's gonna kill me. Well, nothing to hold back for now.
"I only have one other question." Asked the Sannin, looking through the corpse's eyes to where he knew Nagato was watching.
"...which path of Pain do you use to fuck Konan with?"
Pain blinked. "What."
"Like, don't get me wrong, any way is necrophilia, and even I don't write about that, but if you use Yahiko's body that's like double weird."
"I don't-"
"Oh, and another thing. Pain? Really? That's what you go with?"
"What's wr-"
"I mean, the edge!" Jiraiya winced. "I think I just cut myself on it, actually. You may as well call yourself 'Sad' or 'Death' or 'Ouchie-"
An invisible force grabbed Jiraiya about the body and yanked him forwards, allowing Pain to grab him by the throat. The body's eyes blazed with rage. "You have no idea of the suffering I have-"
"Oh, monologuing! Yes!" Jiraiya choke-laughed. "Let me guess, you also enjoy staring dramatically into the middle distance and pondering the meaning of life-"
Pain choke slammed Jiraiya onto the water's surface. His face broke under, and Pain held him there, head submerged, until bubbles started to rise.
Naruto and Sasuke bore the information about Hinata stoically. Juugo and Karin were understandably very nervous about their status as potential criminals, but Tsunade set them up with pardons and temporary housing almost without thinking about it. She had much more important things on her mind, if Itachi's report was to be believed.
"So, what do we do?" Naruto asked, turning to his teammate as they all filed out.
"We wait for her." Sasuke replied, shrugging. It was difficult to see whether he was bitter or just distracted. "It's what we've always done, isn't it?"
"Naruto, stay behind." Tsunade ordered, before he was out of her office. "I have something I...want you to help me check."
"Huh? Sure what is it?" Despite hearing more unfortunate news about his teammate, Naruto still seemed positively chipper. Tsunade hated having to do this, but, well.
"Can you summon one of the toads for me? One of their elders, if possible."
"Uh, sure." Naruto nodded, biting his thumb. "What for?"
"There's-" Tsunade gulped. "There's something I want them to confirm. I've received some intel on Jiraiya."
Naruto' expression brightened as he moved to bite his finger. "Aw, awesome! Is he around? Is he good? Did he kick ass?"
Oh, Kami.
"Not from Jiraiya, Naruto." Tsunade lowered her head. "Intel about him. About his...condition."
"What do you mean? Wait, granny, are you crying?"
One hour later.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Iruka called, from his knees. He was a bit busy trying to unstick the latest trap from under his desk left by one of the students. This last one was pretty clever, but he's no Naruto. "I'm afraid class is over, but I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Unless this is a fellow member of staff, in which case-"
"Hey, Iruka-sensei." Came a familiar voice.
Iruka banged his head on the desk he got up so fast- "Naruto?"
Once he took in the appearance of his visitor, he became even more surprised. Naruto looked exhausted, physically and emotionally. His hair was a mess, his posture was far south of it's usual boundless energy, his eyes...his eyes were red and puffy, as were his cheeks. Iruka knew the signs of crying when he saw them.
"What happened?" He asked his ex-student, quietly.
Naruto tried to smile. Failed. "Do you...do you think maybe we could go get ramen? I'll pay, I just...I've got a lot I need to talk to someone about."
"I'll pay." Iruka replied, already packing his things. "And absolutely. Let's go."
Hey, Dad?" Sasuke asked, once he was certain they were alone in the Uchiha dojo. "Can I talk to you about something?"
"Hm?" Fugaku looked over at him from a training dummy he was breaking into pieces. "Sure, what is it? Is it girls? Finally?"
"No." Sasuke replied, flatly, and he saw his father's eyes narrow. The man knew it was unlike him to entirely ignore banter. "This is a village issue. An Uchiha issue."
"Oh." Fugaku fell out of stance and walked over, focused. "Alright. What is it, son?"
Sasuke blew a breath out. Four years ago, he had made the tremendous leap required to admit he didn't need his father's praise, to allow himself to think his dad could do something wrong. What he was about to do was even harder.
"I...I'm worried Itachi might be a traitor. And I don't know what to do about it."
Fugaku looked at him for a long moment, but worryingly, didn't immediately call him crazy. "I see. What evidence do you have?"
"Nothing concrete." Sasuke admitted, backing up against a wall to lean against it with his arms crossed. "Bits and pieces; some of his actions just don't add up. I found a crazy complicated genjutsu on two of our ANBU, a Sharingan genjutsu, and Itachi's the only one I know who could make anything like it. But that's inconclusive, and..." he sighed. "It's Neji. It all comes back to Neji. Look if Naruto betrayed my village and went on a killing spree, I don't know what I would do. I'd be heartbroken, devastated, I wouldn't believe it for months and then I'd probably be out for his blood. But Itachi...he barely even acts like he dislikes Neji. And then there's the fact that every time they meet they always manage to have their little scuffles and never actually cause each other harm? The way he keeps managing to get all this information on the Akatsuki, yet he's never able to tell anyone where they are, or try and attack them? He must have a source on the inside. And just today, he seemed so surprised when Neji was there, and moments after they fought he's suddenly telling us we need to leave, get out of the fight? Why? I know this is all just conjecture, but..." he trailed off, unsure.
Then Fugaku spoke up. "Soon after the events of your chunin exams, the Akatsuki members Kisame and Neji infiltrated Konoha. This shouldn't have been possible. Konoha has fuuninjutsu wards up around it that alert us to any intruders. We know Neji can dismantle seals, but that isn't what happened; they were both detected entering, but detected as allies, not enemies. The only ones who could have keyed those two into the wards was a captain of our ANBU, or someone ranked even higher. And our Hokage was dead at the time."
Sasuke raised his eyebrows in surprise as his father continued. "Longer ago, at the night of the Hyuuga massacre. Itachi was acting rebellious around that time as well. I wonder, has he told you...Itachi has this 'power'-"
"The Mangekyo?" Sasuke offered.
His father looked surprised, but nodded. Sasuke let his eyes swirl out into their newer pattern, and that made Fugaku recoil in shock.
"Shit happened with Hinata." Sasuke explained, succinctly. "The rules aren't as cut and dry as the Uchiha thought. Itachi's been teaching me about it. He said that Shisui commit suicide and he just felt responsible, that's why it awakened."
"Well, even if that's possible, the question becomes whether to believe him." Fugaku pointed out. "And then, days later, the Hyuuga were slaughtered. Neji may have been a prodigy, but I'm not sure he could have killed his entire clan. Hinata's father was powerful, and many of the Hyuuga branch family were ANBU-level. I know Itachi couldn't have bested me at that age...not without the Mangekyo."
"You think Itachi helped with the Hyuuga massacre?" Sasuke gaped.
"I've had suspicions for years." Fugaku replied, pacing. "But suspicions only, and never proof. And he was always close friends with the Hokage, practically untouchable. But now events seem to be spiralling quicker and quicker towards something incredibly bad for our clan. And, with your eyes..." Fugaku paused and looked at him. "We may have the ability to actually enforce our justice."
The unspoken point, that Sasuke would have to fight his brother, hung heavy in the air.
Sasuke gulped and continued. "So what do we need? What can we do that proves or disproves whether or not he's betraying us?"
"I don't know." Fugaku replied, simply. "It's been weeks since I've seen him, months since I've spoken to him, years since we've discussed anything meaningful. You, though, Sasuke. You've been working with him for almost half a decade. Do you have any idea where we could start?"
Sasuke paused. Thought. "I...I have one idea."
"The situation is disturbing, but not hopeless." Said the toad elder, pacing. He was only about a foot tall, and sounded like a toddler addicted to cigarettes. "Jiraiya was able to discern how Pain fought, and transfer that knowledge onto us before we were last eliminated. With this knowledge, we may be able to construct a strategy with which to defeat Pain, and from there-Are you even listening to me boy?"
Naruto didn't look up.
Mount Myoboku was quiet at the best of times, but here at the peak, the boy and the toad were the only two individuals within kilometres. Birds chirped softly in the distance.
Pa huffed. "I said, are you-"
"He's dead."
Naruto's blunt response pulled the toad up short. Sat on the floor, he stopped picking at the pebbles to look up with empty eyes. "Jiraiya's dead, and you don't care?"
Pa coughed, though 'warbled' may have been a more accurate word. "I do care. Jiraiya was one of the best summoners we've ever contracted, and I'd like to think he was a friend. But moping isn't going to help us avenge him!"
"Humph." Naruto looked back down at the dirt. "Got it. You say 'that's so sad' and then you move on. Well this is my first time with something like this, so sorry if I'm not so good at handling it."
"I-"
"Keep. Talking. I'm listening." Naruto began drawing in the dirt.
"Hm. Very well." Pa resumed pacing. "Jiraiya made it very clear that you were to be his successor, and you've had good experience with us in the past, though many of our members have been annoyed at your...questionable nicknames." He glanced across to see if Naruto had smiled at that. He hadn't.
"Considering this, we've agreed to bring you here, to mount Myoboku. Here is where, if you are willing, you will learn Sage mode, one of the most powerful techniques any ninja can learn. With that, and the proper plan, we believe you may be able to defeat Pain."
"Alright then." Naruto replied. His tone was still completely flat, devoid of any emotion. Looking down, he found he had drawn Konoha's leaf insignia in the floor. "Where do we start? Tsunade thinks we might not have much time at all before Pain attacks us again."
Pa scoffed. "Hmph. I hardly think you will be able to achieve this in a matter of weeks. Sage mode takes years to learn, even for experienced ninja; Jiraiya was only capable of an imperfect version of the form after decades of practice, though his was perhaps due to a poorer physical condition on his part. Poor relative to Hashirama Senju or Namikaze Minato, that is."
"Oh no, a technique that took Jiraiya and the fourth years to learn while I only have days. However will I cope." Naruto replied, checking that he could still summon the rasengan and giving the toad a pointed look, before standing up and putting his hands together. "Multi shadow-"
"Oh no, it won't be that simple." Pa shook a finger. "There's only so many shadow clones you can form at once while activating Sage mode."
"Why."
"Well it's all about accumulating senjutsu, or sage, chakra." Pa explained. "You absorb it from the surrounding area and then use it in combat. But there's only so much of it in any given area, even in places as senjutsu-dense as this. If you know what you're doing, fifty shadow clones absorbing it isn't going to drain a place faster than one or two. And there's the fact that if you start splitting sage chakra among your shadow clones there's less for you to use yourself."
"Sounds exploitable, but alright for now." Naruto frowned. "Surely having three hundred shadow clones would be useful for detecting the chakra though, right?"
"Well, sure, but that's only stage one."
"Eh, whatever." Naruto made the seals, and the duplicated popped up around him, but he gestured dismissively to them. "All this? It's not the reason I learn stuff so fast."
"Then how?" Pa asked, curiously.
"Simple." Naruto shook out his shoulders. "I just refuse to accept a version of the world where I haven't succeeded, and I work like hell until the world gives in."
Izumi Uchiha was walking along a woodland pathway when a call of "Hey, beautiful." Stopped her.
She turned around, and smiled. "Hello to you. You're looking better than when I last saw you."
He was, actually. Some of the tiredness seemed to be gone from Itachi's eyes as he walked over to her, and gave her a quick kiss. "Thanks. Your new outfit's pretty nice as well, I like the buckles."
She tilted her head. "You told me last time you couldn't see that detailed."
After a moment, he tilted his head right back to match her. "Now Izumi. What kind of ninja would I be if I gave away all my secrets?"
She laughed, and reached forwards to wrap him in a hug. She went for a deeper kiss, but he stopped her, looking away awkwardly.
"What's wrong?" She asked, worried.
"This last mission." Itachi told her, sighing. "It...didn't go as we planned."
Izumi wasn't sure what to do with her face; this sounded like good news, but the way Itachi delivered the statement made it sound like he was still in 'cover' mode.
"Not as planned how? We weren't able to recover Hinata?"
"No." He sighed. "Neji was there."
Well of course Neji was there, dumbass, is he still walking?
Some of her irritation must have shown on her face. He smiled and told her, "Relax. I've put shadow clone guards up around us, nobody's going to hear what we're saying."
"Is he alive?" She asked, immediately.
"Is who?"
"Is Neji, dammit Itachi, now's not the time to be funny!"
"Yes, he's alive." He reassured her, and she let out a breath.
"Thank Kami. Does that mean he's given up on his stupid plan with Hinata? Or did something go wrong?"
"You don't know?" Itachi asked her, staring.
"Of course I don't know." She frowned. "You're acting...weird today, 'Tach. What's going on?"
Itachi paused for a moment, then shrugged. "Eh, well, I suppose that's enough."
And then he vanished.
Standing a few feet behind him, looking her dead in the eyes, was Sasuke.
Oh fuck.
Genjutsu.
She drew a kunai and activated her Sharingan, just in time for almost a dozen other Uchiha to drop down around her, fully armed and in uniform.
Another moment, Fugaku dropped in behind Sasuke's shoulder.
"No." Izumi whispered.
"She's in on it." Sasuke said, not breaking eye contact with her. "We were right. Itachi was conspiring with Neji."
"No. Sasuke no!" Izumi stepped forwards, but a few sets of razor wire wrapped around her arms and legs, immobilising her. "It's not what you think, he wasn't-"
"You visited his bedside." Sasuke snarled, face snapping from controlled to enraged in a fraction of a second. "Remember? Back when I first learned you and him were a 'thing'?" He stalked over to her, putting his face within inches of hers. "I was there to support my brother. You were there consorting with a terrorist." Her mouth hung open. Sasuke turned away. "I want this bitch in a cell. Fast. Somewhere nobody will notice, and you idiots better be quick about it because we've got a small enough window to catch Itachi unawares without you tipping him off early."
"No, don't fight him!" Izumi begged, tears on her face. "Please, Sasuke, you're the one person he won't be able to fight."
"I know." Said the youngest Uchiha scion, not looking back at her. "I'm counting on it."
Neji sat on a throne in the centre of the fort. It was an old hideout for some clan or another, long abandoned, but over the last fortnight or so he'd done some spring cleaning, getting rid of all the clutter. Turning it into a perfect arena.
"Not gonna lie, you look pretty dope sat on that." Itachi's shadow clone said, walking up to him.
"Right?" Neji agreed, trying a variety of poses. "I'm trying to go for 'intimidating, but not trying to be intimidating'. Like, I'm perfectly relaxed, but I'm exuding menace."
Itachi sat himself on the floor, looking up at his friend. "And then, what, sit in that exact pose and wait for Hinata to arrive?"
"Well, she'll only be a few hours now." Neji shrugged. "And you don't have to worry about getting a sore arse when you've lost feeling in most of your body."
"Important to look at the upsides."
"Exactly. Oh, wait, I've got something for you." Neji reached into a pocket and pulled out a storage scroll, which poofed into a book he then chucked at Itachi. "I finally got round to writing out my dossier on your condition."
Itachi raised his eyebrows, catching the book and flipping it open. "Wait, seriously? That was the longest long shot on my long-shot-list."
"I have the best eyes for dissection in the world, and you doubted me?" Neji chuckled. "Read through that, burn it, pop and send the info to Tsunade. She might be able to fix you up."
"You...are literally a lifesaver."
"No problemo."
"No, seriously man. Thank you."
Neji just smiled.
Itachi sighed and flopped onto his back. "I am contractually obligated to ask you, one last time, to live."
"No."
"Talk to her. You two can have perfectly honest discourse, people could resolve wars with this power-"
"-and what happens when she finds out? That everything she knows is wrong? She'll have a full on panic attack."
"That's not what this is about, and you know it. You've already given me permission to tell her the truth if I have to."
"I...I'm a kinkiller, Itachi." Neji told him, meeting his eyes. "It's been a decade, and I still see their faces when I try to sleep. The only reason I've been able to keep going is to prepare for this moment. I can't live like this anymore, Itachi. I'm sorry. Not for her, not even for you."
The fort was quiet for a few more minutes.
"Do you think we did good?" Neji asked, eventually.
"I think we always tried." Itachi replied, honestly. "And mostly, yeah."
"Think anyone's done better?"
"Probably. But I bet nobody's been perfect." Itachi sat up. "If I survive all this, I guess I'll tell you later how it went."
"Hn." Neji looked up. "She's on her way. Sure you want to stay and watch?"
"I couldn't live with myself if I didn't." He stood up, and looked across at his best friend. "Neji...I love you, man."
"Gay." Neji snorted, trying not to cry. "I love you to."
Itachi paused, then darted in and wrapped his best friend in a hug.
They stayed there for a few seconds, then Itachi walked off to disguise himself as a pebble or some such, and sit in the corner of the room. Neji got comfortable in his chair, and waited for the last battle of his life.
